Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills met in court today as their lawyers tried to hammer out potentially the most costly divorce deal in British legal history.


Ms Mills, 39, appeared close to a record £50million share of his £825million fortune. They parted in May last year after four years of marriage .



To ensure secrecy in Court 16 on the sixth floor of the Royal Courts of Justice in Holborn, the spyhole on the door was covered from the inside.

A barricade of office chairs prevented access and the hearing was listed discreetly by just its case number.



Ms Mills arrived first for the private hearing in which the two sides will try to thrash out a settlement with a judge present to offer guidance.



Ms Mills was driven in via a back entrance in a black Mondeo accompanied by a minder and a companion, believed to be her sister Fiona.

The car's rear window was obscured with a mat while a blanket was held up to shield her. Ms Mills, holding on to crutches, was helped from the car and into a wheelchair before being pushed inside.



Sir Paul, 65, arrived half an hour later, having stopped off for a cup of tea at a café close to his home in St John's Wood.



He was driven to the same back entrance in a Lexus at about 10am.

Wearing a dark blue suit, the former Beatle cheerfully acknowledged journalists but said nothing.


The pair were later taken up to Court 16 using the judge's back staircase, avoiding all public spaces in the courthouse.



The discussions between the couple and their expensively assembled legal team are expected to last all day.



Ms Mills's lawyer Anthony Julius, who also acted for Princess Diana in her divorce, was at her side.



One lawyer turned up late and found himself locked outside but court staff finally agreed to carry in his documents after a series of frantic phone calls.

The hearing, called a financial dispute resolution (FDR), is designed to sort out a settlement without the couple going to a full-blown divorce case.


If it comes to that it is unlikely to be held until next year at the earliest as the court calendar is extremely busy, suggest sources.



McCartney will be anxious to avoid publicity with Ms Mills, in leaked divorce papers, accusing him of assaulting her on four occasions during their marriage, a claim he vehemently denies.



For today's hearing all court listings had been taken down but it is thought the hearing was taking place in front of Mr Justice Coleridge, whose job is to “knock heads together” and reach a settlement.



Ms Mills's spokesman Phil Hall, a former editor of the News Of The World, explained that his client needed a wheelchair because of recent problems she was suffering with her prosthetic limb.

He said: “Heather has been having problems with her leg lately. It's been swelling up and she's had difficulties getting her prosthetic on, which is not uncommon. So that could be the reason she's been taken into the court in a wheelchair.



“But it could also be because the last time she faced the press on crutches, she was knocked over, so the wheelchair could be a precaution.”



He said that reports Ms Mills could be awarded a £50 million settlement was just speculation but added that it seemed a reasonable figure in a case such as this.



One lawyer told said that around eight out of 10 cases taken to FDR are settled at that stage.

During the meeting, the judge will hear all evidence on the case and all offers and demands made so far in a divorce battle that has so far run for well over a year.


He will then indicate what a court would order - within a range of figures - with expectation on Sir Paul and Ms Mills to reach agreement.



A spokeswoman for Mishcon de Reya, the law firm representing Ms Mills, said: “The hearing happens before any divorce trial takes place. It is in front of a completely separate judge to see if it can be mediated there and then.”



Reports today claim Sir Paul may offer his estranged wife a lump sum of £15million with an additional £3 million a year until their Beatrice, who is four at the end of this month, reaches her 18th birthday.



That would dwarf the current record of £48million awarded to Beverley Charman in her bitterly contested divorce from insurance broker John Charman in May.



Mr Justice Coleridge presided over that case, the most generous ever awarded, and has recently been described as the “friend of the reticent housewife”.