All about McCartney-Mills divorce

SIR PAUL McCARTNEY's ex-wife HEATHER MILLS has been awarded $48.6 million (#24.3 million) in a divorce settlement.

The couple - who wed in 2002 - failed to reach an agreement last month and it was left to a London High Court judge to make the final decision.

According to High Court papers, Mills asked for $250 million, but the former Beatle offered her $31.6 million.

On Monday (17Mar08), Mills was awarded $33 million cash with assets worth $15.6 million (#7.8 million).

Speaking outside the court, Mills said she is pleased with the judgement and remains friends with her ex-husband: "I am very, very, very happy. I was always going to get between £20 and £30 million ($40 and $60 million), but Sir Paul was offering much less than that.

"The judge said Paul was only worth £400 million ($800 million), but everyone has known he has been worth £800 million ($1.6 billion) for the last 15 years.

"I wasn't allowed any access into any of our accounts, I was locked out of every home. I hope now that me and my daughter can have a life and not be followed every single day. Apart from one TV thing, I have kept silent for 21 months. I wanted to keep it private but he wanted it made public he always wants to look like he's generous Sir Paul."

Mills will not appeal against the judge's decision, but will appeal on Tuesday against the decision to release court papers which disclose details about the couple's four-year-old daughter Beatrice.

She adds, "I am standing here because Paul is insistent on the whole judgment being put out. I've said that if the whole judgment goes out then all the transcripts have to go out because it's going to be written in a way that they will try and make it that I wasn't successful.

"The only reason I'm appealing tomorrow morning... I'm not appealing the judgment but the publication of it as it includes private secure matters about my daughter. It's gone against everything to do with human rights."

The couple's divorce case had been held in private, but it is believed the judge released the agreed figure in a bid to end speculation over the size of the financial settlement.

Meanwhile, Mills has also denied reports she will flee Britain after receiving her $48.6 million divorce settlement from Sir Paul - because she fears her ex-husband will threaten her with an injunction.

Mills won $33 million cash with assets worth $15.6 million following the breakdown of her four-year marriage to the former Beatle.

But she denies claims made by her father that she plans to start a new life in the US with the couple's four-year-old daughter Beatrice.

She says, "I can't leave England. I want my daughter to be with her father. And believe me if I tried to leave the country her father would put an injunction out on me in a minute."