Britney driving case declared a mistrial

Britney Spears’ driving case has been declared a mistrial.

A jury foreman announced that the panel failed to agree after four votes about whether the singer was guilty of driving without a valid driver’s licence.

Jurors had deliberated for more than eight hours.

Spears did not have a California driver’s licence, but did carry one from Louisiana, where she has a home.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Steele thanked the jurors for their service and ended the trial.

A prosecutor did not immediately indicate whether Spears would be retried.

The 26-year-old singer faced a prison sentence and a fine if convicted. She did not appear in court during the trial, which began last week.

The case started when Spears hit a parked car in August 2007 and left without notifying the owner.

But showbiz observers have said Spears is “very different woman” to the “erratic and distracted” star who publicly shave her head before going into rehab last year.

In September, she swept the board at MTV’s Video Music Awards in an appearance that was hailed as a “resurrection” of her career.

Spears, who has been nominated 16 times before but never won, thanked “God first and foremost for just blessing me like this” as she picked up the best video, best pop video and best female video awards for Piece Of Me.

British comedian Russell Brand, who presented the live show despite being a virtual unknown in the United States, hailed the “launch of a very new Britney Spears era”.

“Consider this the resurrection of Britney Spears,” he said.

“If there was a female Christ, it’s Britney.”

The troubled pop star thanked God, “my beautiful family, my two beautiful boys, for just inspiring me every day and my fans, this is for you”.

In January, her former husband Kevin Federline was granted custody of the couple’s two boys – Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one – following several high-profile incidents of erratic behaviour.

The court heard police were called to Spears’ home after she refused to relinquish one of the boys to a Federline bodyguard.

Just six months ago, Spears left a psychiatric ward and stirred up a paparazzi car chase, a scene that looked like the beginning of even more erratic behaviour.

But in the weeks that followed, she kept a relatively low profile and largely avoided the cameras, spending time with family members.

She even found success at the awards and in a cameo appearance on the sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother'.

Spears has been under the legal protection of her father Jamie for more than the last seven months after the court put him in control of his daughter’s personal and financial affairs.

During that time, the pop star has been relatively invisible to photographers, only occasionally snapped shopping or having dinner with her mother, Lynne.

A traffic accident in April turned out to be a minor bump in which no one was injured, and for which no one was prosecuted.

The pop-star also made news that month when she took on full-time exercise and nutrition coaches from Bally Total Fitness.

Once known for her flawless figure, Spears’s flabby form was one of several criticisms of her lacklustre performance at last year’s VMAs, which were meant to herald her comeback.