Mills 'has a mountain to climb'

Day two of the McCartney-Mills divorce hearing has ended, with no signs of a speedy resolution.

Heather Mills has abandoned her legal team to represent herself against one of the top barristers in the field of divorce settlements.

And in doing so she has "a mountain to climb", according to other divorce lawyers.

The former model is fighting for her share of Sir Paul McCartney's estimated £825 million fortune.

No information has been released from Court 34 of the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, where even the windows are covered to prevent anyone from seeing in.

Sandra Sinclair of law firm SAS Daniels said this country was the best jurisdiction in the world for wives seeking a divorce settlement but Miss Mills does not have any background in the law, and could find herself in severe trouble at the Royal Courts of Justice.

"She must be mad to do it herself. She will be up against one of the finest legal teams in the world, led by Nicholas Mostyn QC."

The former Beatle and Miss Mills, who lost part of a leg in a road accident in 1993, are battling over money and access to their four-year-old daughter Beatrice after a marriage that lasted less than four years.

They married in June 2002, four years after Sir Paul's first wife Linda, whom he married in 1969, died of breast cancer.

Sir Paul is at risk of now facing the biggest divorce payout in British legal history.

But the final details may only be revealed if Sir Paul or Miss Mills is unhappy with the settlement and goes to the Court of Appeal.

Divorce experts have suggested the settlement could reach £60 million and that would exceed the record £48 million businessman John Charman was told by the courts to pay his former wife in May last year.

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