McCartney divorce leak traced to London shop

The leaked divorce documents that accuse Paul McCartney of physically abusing his wife Heather Mills during their marriage have been traced to a fax machine in a London newsagent.

The court papers were said to have been prepared by Mills' solicitors Mishcon De Reya. They were first published a week ago in British newspaper the Daily Mail, leading to a media frenzy in an already acrimonious split.

The previous day the documents had also been faxed to news agency Press Association's office in Howden, England, but officials there doubted their authenticity.

However, the agency's IT department now believes the fax was sent from newsagent Drury News in Holborn, London, the heart of London's legal profession.

Peter Metra, who has run the shop for 15 years, remembers a smartly-dressed, brunette woman using the fax machine.

He tells British newspaper The Times: "I put the first page through and then she did the rest. We checked the fax number and she sent it."

Yesterday, Mills announced she is suing two British newspapers, the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard, over "false, damaging and immensely upsetting" statements surrounding her divorce from the former Beatle.