Mills takes public dig after Macca refuses autograph for fan

HEATHER MILLS could not resist another public dig at her estranged husband Paul McCartney outside the High Court yesterday.

With the couple’s divorce hearing set to continue into next week, Ms Mills took a little swipe at McCartney when approached by a fan of the Fab Four.

A Beatles fan took his entire collection of 12” vinyl albums to the High Court to try to get McCartney’s autograph on them.

Joe, 50, who refused to reveal his surname, approached McCartney with an original version of the 1968 White Album as the singer prepared to enter Court 34.

But, he said, McCartney turned him down, saying he was sorry but he was not allowed to sign it.

The disappointed fan was eventually ushered away by security.

Joe, from Leytonstone, east London, who said he took a day off work to try to get the autographs, then approached Ms Mills as she arrived for the hearing.

She was seen happily signing his autograph book.

Joe said: “I told her Paul had refused to sign and she said ‘’That’s a pity, you are the sort of person who has made him what he is today’.”

A large number of Beatles fans gathered in the court precincts to see McCartney arriving and leaving court over the past five days.

Court 34 has been booked for Monday to continue the bitter war of words which centre on Ms Mills’s demands over McCartney reputed £825 million (€1.1bn) fortune and arrangements for their four-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

Court officials said the case —– originally scheduled to end yesterday —- will continue after the weekend.

Mr Justice Bennett will then have to decide whether he has heard enough to give a ruling on how the spoils of the marriage will be shared out and the conditions to be imposed on the couple.

His judgment, which will follow in a few weeks, will be binding on both McCartney and Ms Mills but can be challenged at the Court of Appeal. But that would entail a dramatic change —– no longer would the accusations from both sides be kept secret behind the doors of the court in the private Family Division of the High Court.

If either party goes to appeal, the case becomes public, with all the documents and argument open to scrutiny.

It is well known that McCartney is anxious to keep the details of his four-year marriage to Ms Mills, a former model who lost part of her leg in a road accident in 1993, out of the public domain.

But Ms Mills has no such qualms —– she is reported to be planning a book on the subject which has the potential to earn her millions worldwide.

Her demands for compensation for potential losses on any book if she agrees to confidentiality are likely to be figuring large at the hearing. Another reason for the length of the case is the fact that she is representing herself, although she does have the benefit of professional legal advice in court.

The pair married in June 2002, four years after McCartney first wife Linda died of breast cancer.

There has been speculation this could be the most expensive divorce in British legal history with McCartney, 65, forced to pay out £60m or even £100m to 40-year-old Ms Mills before he gets his divorce.

The guessing will stop if the case goes to the appeal judges and every allegation levelled by the couple at one another will be laid bare.