McCartney and Mills in divorce court (Roundup)

Oct 11, 2007, 17:01 GMT

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills (pictured)were Thursday locked in a London courtroom with their lawyers and a judge seeking to hammer out a divorce settlement expected to be the highest in British legal history. © David Gabber / Photorazzi

London - Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were Thursday locked in a London courtroom with their lawyers and a judge seeking to hammer out a divorce settlement expected to be the highest in British legal history.

The strictly private session, behind closed doors at the Family Division of the High Court in London, was nonetheless under close scrutiny from the world's media determined not to miss the end of a famous celebrity marriage.

Mills, 39, arrived at the back of the court annexe building in central London, covering her head with a blanket to thwart the scores of waiting photographers.

A few minutes later, Sir Paul, 65, wearing a smart a dark grey suit, arrived separately.

The efforts to keep the press at bay were in stark contrast to the sharp words that have been exchanged between the estranged couple since they announced their separation after four years of marriage in May, 2006.

Mills, a former model and anti-landmine campaigner, accused Sir Paul of being 'mean' and said he was an alcoholic who hit her and stopped her from breast-feeding their daughter, Beatrice, insisting that her breasts 'belonged to him.'

'I'm not a wife beater,' Sir Paul hit back in a newspaper interview, calling on his estranged wife to refrain from washing dirty linen in public.

He defended her against repeated accusations that she only married the famous Beatle for his money.

Sir Paul, who has a reported fortune of 825 million pounds (1.6 billion dollars), was facing a total payout of up to 70 million pounds to provide for Mills and Beatrice, who turns 4 at the end of this month.

A payout on that level would exceed a record 48-million-pound settlement agreed by City insurance broker John Charman last year.

In January, lawyers for Mills denied that she had agreed to a final settlement worth 32 million pounds.

It has been reported that Sir Paul offered in the region of 20 million pounds, while Mills wanted around 50 million pounds.

The total payout could approach 70 million pounds.

Sir Paul married Mills in June, 2002, four years after his first wife, Linda Eastman, died of breast cancer.

He married Linda in 1969. The couple had three children, Mary, Stella and James.

After her death, a family spokesman said Paul and Linda had 'never spent a night apart in the 30 years that they have loved one another.'

Sir Paul, after meeting Heather at a charity event, said he believed he had found a 'second Linda.' His children were said to have disapproved of his marriage to Mills from the start.