Britney Spears’ father removed as Singer’s guardian

Pop singer Britney Spears' father was removed from his controversial role as his daughter's guardian on Wednesday by a Los Angeles judge, ending a long and bitter legal battle by the pop princess. Jamie Spears was suspended with immediate effect and replaced with a temporary conservator "in the best interests" of the singer, said Judge Brenda Penny. A hearing to fully terminate the guardianship is expected before the end of the year. "Mr Spears is ordered to turn over all the conservatorship assets," said Penny.

Spears' father has controlled her life for the past 13 years, under a controversial legal arrangement that the 39-year-old US singer has slammed as "abusive" and that her lawyers had demanded be scrapped. Wednesday's move came after a years-long campaign that played out in public, and after the emergence in the last week of two new powerful documentaries that contained allegations Jamie Spears had bugged his daughter's phone calls.

Dozens of supporters had gathered outside a Los Angeles courtroom ahead of the hearing, many carrying colorful signs with slogans such as "Jail Jamie" and the ubiquitous "Free Britney" plea that has been taken up around the world by her supporters on social media. The ruling came after Spears' lawyer Mathew Rosengart filed a motion to have her father removed. "Every day that goes by with him as conservator -- every day and every hour -- is one in which he causes his daughter anguish and pain," the petition says.