Paul offers £100mn for a quickie divorce

LONDON: Sir Paul McCartney has offered his estranged wife Heather Mills a £100 million settlement for a ‘quickie’ divorce if she allows their daughter to live with him. Rumour mills are working overtime to try and work out the future of the former Beatle’s four-year marriage to Mills and the actual size of the divorce settlement, expected to be one of the largest of all time.

While the pop icon’s fortune is estimated at £825 million, only Sir Paul and his close advisers know the real scale of his wealth. Lawyers have put estimated Mills could walk away with as much as £200 million she decides to go for long, protracted battle.

Media reports suggest that Sir Paul has told friends he is close to reaching a deal with Mills. Under the settlement, the couple’s two-year-old daughter Beatrice will have ‘residency’ with 63-year-old Sir Paul, although they will officially share custody.

“They have actually been discussing this for many months,” a source close to the musician said. The music idol is said to be determined to bring up Beatrice, while Mills who is currently caring for her also has strong views on rearing their daughter in her own way. “Paul is the best father in the world. He’s determined to raise Beatrice. He did a wonderful job with his other children – none of whom are spoilt brats,” said a friend of McCartney. The pop idol has three grown up children through his first marriage to Linda, and a stepdaughter ironically also called Heather.

In an attempt to get rid of the gold-digger label she has attracted, Mills has promised to donate most of the money she receives in a divorce settlement to her landmine charity. The former model became a charity campaigner after he lost her left leg in a dreadful car accident in August 1993. Thirty-eight-year-old Mills has devoted much of her time since then counselling people who have lost limbs.

“Most of the money Heather has ever received goes towards supporting her various charities, the main being Adopt-A-Minefield. And she will do the same with the settlement,” said Mill’s representative, who insists she has no desire to profit from the divorce. “I cannot comment on what the settlement might be, except that I am certain she wants the vast majority of it to be spent on clearing landmines,” added the representative.

McCartney met Mills in 1999, just after the death of his wife Linda. Mills was presenting at a charitable award ceremony at London’s Dorchester hotel. Sir Paul was touched by the blonde model’s presentation and their shared passion for charity work led to romance. “I thought he was very cute but it didn’t enter my head that he fancied me,” Mills said later. The couple became engaged during a visit to the Lake District and tied the knot in front of 300 guests at a church in the grounds of Ireland’s 17th-century Castle Leslie on June 11, 2002. Their daughter Beatrice was born a year later.