Lindsay Lohan sent to jail

A California judge has sent troubled actress Lindsay Lohan to jail for 90 days today for violating probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend alcohol education classes.

Lohan, aged 24, immediately burst into tears after the sentencing.

She was not required to surrender immediately but will have to turn herself in on July 20. She will also be required to enter an in-patient rehabilitation programme after her release from jail.

The ruling came during a hearing set for the ‘Mean Girls’ star after she missed a court date in May. She has been required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor since then.

Lohan was promoting a film project at the time at the Cannes Film Festival and claimed her passport was stolen.

Weeks later, the monitor issued an alert after Lohan attended the MTV Movie Awards and after-parties. Prosecutors called it an “alcohol-related” violation.

Prosecutors had hoped to introduce reports from the monitor to show the actress also had broken a court order against drinking imposed as part of her probation.

Superior Court judge Marsha Revel said during the hearing that the device showed Lohan’s blood-alcohol content was 0.03.

However, Judge Revel said she would not consider whether the actress actually consumed alcohol last month after attending the MTV awards. Lohan has denied drinking that night.

The judge said she would honour what she told lawyers for both sides in a closed meeting last month and not allow the negative report to be used at the hearing.

Judge Revel said she would only consider whether the actress failed to complete the required number of alcohol education courses on time.

Cheryl Marshall, a co-founder of the education programme, told the court she did not report Lohan to be in violation of the judge’s order when the actress missed nine meetings, then made up an undisclosed number.

Ms Marshall said she was aware the programme received a phone call from the judge in December saying she wanted Lohan to attend classes each week, but said she never got a paper copy of the order and did not consider it active.

Ms Marshall’s programme fought against providing records and evidence at the hearing, but Judge Revel ruled the information was necessary.

Lohan’s lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley said she had not prepared to defend against the alcohol monitor report because the judge had said it would only affect bail for the actress.

Judge Revel doubled Lohan’s bail to £132,000 (€158,000) after learning of the alert last month.

Lohan arrived about 10 minutes early for the hearing at the Beverly Hills court. Her father Michael and younger sister also attended.

Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08% and one count of reckless driving.

The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.