Battle for Sir Paul McCartney's millions goes into second day at divorce court

Feb 12 2008

THERE was no sign of a settlement last night after the first of a scheduled five days of the Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills divorce court battle.

He left with a polite but firm “No comment” ahead of his estranged wife, while a few moments later, Miss Mills emerged from the courtroom.

Arm in arm with a female member of her entourage, she disappeared into the toilets next door and then returned to the court before finally leaving for the day.

It could have been the greatest divorce court drama in British legal history, as the former model fought for her share of the former Beatle’s estimated £825m fortune.

But the only information from Court 34 at the High Court in London was written on the door – Private No Admittance.

Former Beatle Sir Paul left the building with his barrister, Nicholas Mostyn, QC, and the rest of his legal team.

Miss Mills, who is said to be representing herself in court, headed for her car with her private make-up artist in an entourage of seven.

Miss Mills turned up yesterday morning in a black Mercedes which came to rest in a disabled parking space alongside the court complex.

The former model, who lost part of a leg in a road accident in 1993, was ushered from behind the tinted windows of the vehicle and headed for the nearby court, its windows covered to stop anyone seeing through the doors.

Sir Paul arrived a few minutes later, smiling and looking relaxed but declining to comment on the hearing.

He was dressed in a dark pin- striped suit with a black and white knitted scarf draped casually around his neck.

Miss Mills was wearing a sober black top and skirt below the knee over a peach pink blouse and ankle boots.

Her long hair hung over her shoulders.

In the face of intense media interest, – with scores of photographers and journalists hovering around the entrances of the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, central London – she said nothing. He managed: “Good morning”.

Sir Paul and Miss Mills will be battling over money and access to their child after a marriage that lasted less than four years.

They married in June, 2002, four years after Sir Paul’s first wife Linda, whom he married in 1969, died of breast cancer.

Sir Paul is at risk of now facing the biggest payout in British legal history.

But unless one of them takes issue with the settlement being hammered out behind closed doors in the Family Division of the High Court and goes to the Court of Appeal, the figures and details may never be known to the outside world.

There has been speculation among divorce experts, based on recent big money cases, that the settlement could reach £60m.

This would exceed the record £48m businessman John Charman was told by the courts to pay his former wife in May last year.

Lawyers agree there are many imponderables which could limit Miss Mills’s payout, including the shortness of the marriage and the fact that the bulk of Sir Paul’s fortune was amassed long before the couple met – she is just 40, while he will be 66 this year.

They have a four-year-old daughter, Beatrice, whose future will also figure large in the negotiations.

The venue for the hearing is a cavernous, oak-panelled courtroom where the ceiling soars more than 30ft.

It is in the West Green section of the Royal Courts of Justice – the traditional home of divorce hearings before the advent of “quickie” divorces.

In the early part of the 20th century, the court division was called the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty – nicknamed Wills, Wives and Wrecks.

There was even provision for a jury and large area for spectators because divorce hearings then were very public affairs.

Now the whole procedure is broken down into a hearing over the settlement – under the auspices of the Family Division, where almost every case is held in private – and the divorce itself, which is usually announced at a hearing lasting just seconds.

The only divorces held in public are those where the grounds for the split are contested.

The hearing before Mr Justice Bennett concerns the financial aspects of the divorce and will be a very private affair.