Heather Mills McCartney, the estranged wife of Sir Paul McCartney, has been criticised by police for dialling 999 too many times.

A senior police officer said that the 39-year-old, who is in the middle of a bitter divorce battle, made a "disproportionate" number of emergency calls.

She is said to have dialled 999 four times within a 24-hour period complaining of being harassed by photographers outside her home in Hove, Brighton.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Moore, of Brighton and Hove Police, said there was a danger that any further complaints would not be taken seriously.

“We are having to spend a disproportionate amount of time on one particular person," he said. "We are duty-bound to respond, but clearly people who make lots of calls to the police run the risk of being treated as the little boy who cried wolf.

“Officers who have attended previously to find there have been no grounds might not take any claims seriously, and that’s the danger we face.”

Last month it emerged that Ms Mills was in fear of her own safety and that of her daughter Beatrice after she received death threats.

In January, her sister Fiona Mills made an internet appeal for the end to media "harassment" of her family, saying she was "deeply concerned" for their safety.

Phil Hall, Ms Mills's spokesman said: “She is a single mum who has been very nervous about all the things that have happened. She has been followed late at night by people she does not know.

“The danger is that she will not call police in future and something serious will happen. What is she supposed to do?”

Today, Ms Mills said that her divorce was like "getting blood out of a stone" as she unveiled her latest animal-rights campaign.

Asked by Sky News how long the divorce could take, she replied: “I’ve got no idea. It’s like getting blood from a stone. It could take a year, I’ve got no idea.

She added: “It’s not down to me, it’s all down to me hubby."

Ms Mills and the former Beatle announced the end of their four-year marriage last May. They appeared in court in London on March 1 for a preliminary hearing in their divorce.

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