A photographer was spared a jail term today and sentenced to a 140-hour community order for assaulting Heather Mills-McCartney in a subway as he tried to take her picture.

The personal trainer of Heather Mills-McCartney told a court how he sought to protect her after she was assaulted by a photographer.

Heather Mills-McCartney believes she may have persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconsider his country’s policy on landmines, she said today.