SIR PAUL McCARTNEY is likely to face his estranged wife Heather Mills McCartney across a courtroom this week in the biggest celebrity divorce since the £60m split between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Only an 11th-hour settlement will stop the case going ahead tomorrow at the High Court in London. Despite claims yesterday that McCartney had agreed a £55m settlement, both sides have privately denied a deal has been struck.

Instead there is still a gap of more than £30m between what Mills, 40, originally hoped to receive and what the 65-year-old former Beatle wants to pay her. McCartney’s lawyers believe the court may make a settlement of between £13m and £20m.

A friend of Mills said yesterday: “Heather is still hoping Paul will make a deal on the steps of the court on Monday rather than having to face her in court.”

Six days have been set aside for the hearing before Mr Justice Bennett in the court’s family division. Reporters will be barred and the judge could deliver judgment in private, although his order will be made public.

McCartney’s friends say he always intended to take the case “down to the wire”. He has not made a formal offer. His lawyers take the view that it is the court’s job to determine how much Mills gets.

Each side will list their assets and outgoings. Mills owes an estimated £1.5m to her previous lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, although she may seek arbitration on the size of the fees. She bought a £3m home in Sussex last year for herself and the couple’s daughter Beatrice, 4.

Mills is believed to have received an interim payment of about £1m. She will be asked in court to make an estimate of her needs to keep her in the manner to which she and their daughter are accustomed.

Any attempt to “talk up” the earnings she says she gave up to marry McCartney are likely to be challenged. It has been estimated that she was receiving £60,000 to £100,000 a year from television and magazine interviews before their 2002 wedding, and that her earnings as a photographic model were negligible.

The court hearing will decide on a fair division of assets based on what assets or earnings were accumulated during the marriage. There is no question of Mills getting half of McCartney’s £725m fortune.

However, Mills’s concern for her safety after calling in police to investigate death threats could add a substantial sum to pay for security until Beatrice turns 18.

In most divorce cases, lawyers would negotiate any settlement and make a joint representation to the judge that a satisfactory settlement has been reached and it would be rubber stamped.

But Mills’s reputation as a loose cannon who will break down in tears on television means there is a desire to regulate her behaviour. She accused McCartney of driving her to contemplate suicide. In leaked divorce papers, she alleged he had assaulted her during the marriage.

A private settlement would not prevent her from attempting to traduce McCartney’s reputation in future television appearances.

But if a court settlement includes compensation for future earnings Mills might have made from book or TV deals, McCartney’s lawyers could apply for repayment if she does go public.

A series of annual payments rather than a lump sum might also help the musician monitor his ex-wife’s behaviour.

Friends of Mills say she might now be happy with £20m after previous attempts to talk up higher sums got nowhere.

Both sides are understood to have agreed to share joint custody of Beatrice.

Fatal attraction

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills met in 1999 at a charity dinner.

A former model, Mills had become involved with charitable causes after losing a leg when she was knocked down by a police motorcycle.

McCartney later said that he had fallen for Mills immediately.

She had been due to marry Chris Terrill, a documentary film maker. He later said that Mills left him six days before their wedding.

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