Heather Mills: what the judge said

Yesterday Heather Mills won £24.3m.

"(Miss Mills) is strong-willed and determined personality who has shown great fortitude in overcoming her disability. She has conducted her own case before me with a steely, yet courteous, determination."

"Having watched and listened to her give evidence, having studied the documents, I am driven to the conclusion that much of her evidence, both written and oral, was not just inconsistent and inaccurate but also less than candid. Overall she was a less than impressive witness."

"He (Sir Paul McCartney) expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable irritation, if not anger. He was consistent, accurate and honest."

"I find that, far from the husband dictating to and restricting the wife's career and charitable activities, he did the exact opposite, as he says. He encouraged it and lent his support, name and reputation to her business and charitable activities. Compensation therefore does not arise."

Miss Mills' attitude was "that she is entitled for the indefinite future, if not for the whole of her life, to live at the same 'rate' as her husband and to be kept in the style to which she perceives she was accustomed during the marriage.

"Although she strongly denied it, her case boils down to the syndrome of 'me too' or 'if he has it, I want it too'."

"It must have been absolutely plain to the wife after separation that it was wholly unrealistic to expect to go on living at the rate at which she perceived she was living."

"The wife's case is that her earning capacity is now zero.

"The wife, as I have said, blames the husband for his attitude towards her working during the marriage. That I have found to be a false case."

"In my judgment the picture painted by the husband of the wife's part in his emotional and professional life is much closer to reality than the wife's account.

"The wife, as the husband said, enjoys being the centre of attention. Her presence on his tours came about because she loved the husband, enjoyed being there and because she thoroughly enjoyed the media and public attention. I am prepared to accept that her presence was emotionally supportive to him but to suggest that in some way she was his "business partner" is, I am sorry to have to say, make-belief."

"I have to say that the wife's evidence that in some way she was the husband's `psychologist', even allowing for hyperbole, is typical of her make-belief.

"I reject her evidence that she, vis-a-vis the husband, was anything more than a kind and loving person who was deeply in love with him, helped him through his grieving and like any new wife tried to integrate into their relationship the children of his former marriage.

"I wholly reject her account that she rekindled the husband's professional flame and gave him back his confidence."

"In her final submissions the wife described her contribution as `exceptional'. I reject her case. I am afraid I have to say her case on this issue is devoid of reality. The husband's evidence is far more persuasive."

"It is a central part of her case that she helped the husband to communicate better with his children."

"She 'counselled' him through his grieving over Linda. She gave him confidence after Linda's death to restart touring. She says she helped him write his songs."

"She suggested that he should have an acrylic fingernail because he had worn down his fingernail of his left hand to the point that it bled. "She helped, it is said, with the set design and lighting on his tours. She went on every tour; indeed, she says, he insisted on her coming."

"In the absence of any sensible proposal by the wife as to her income needs, I must do the best I can on the material I have."

"If the wife feels aggrieved about what I propose, she only has herself to blame. If, as she has done, a litigant flagrantly over-eggs the pudding and thus deprives the court of any sensible assistance, then he or she is likely to find that the court takes a robust view and drastically prunes the proposed budget."

"In my judgment, after a short marriage to a very wealthy man, it is unfair to expect that she should continue to live at the same 'rate' as during the marriage. Such an expectation is completely unrealistic."

"She is entitled to feel that she has been ridiculed, even vilified. To some extent she is her own worst enemy. She has an explosive and volatile character."

"She cannot have done herself any good in the eyes of potential purchasers of her services as a TV presenter, public speaker and a model, by her outbursts in her TV interviews in October and November 2007. Nevertheless the fact is that at present she is at a disadvantage."

"I have found that her association with the husband advanced, not stultified, her career. If in the future she is circumspect about engaging with the media and/or adopts an emollient and less confrontational attitude to it, I think that the negative interest shown towards her will indeed subside."

"She is entitled to feel that she has been ridiculed, even vilified. To some extent she is her own worst enemy. She has an explosive and volatile character."

"She cannot have done herself any good in the eyes of potential purchasers of her services as a TV presenter, public speaker and a model, by her outbursts in her TV interviews in October and November 2007. Nevertheless the fact is that at present she is at a disadvantage."

"In a short marriage where the assets were all in place prior to that marriage and where the assets have not increased by reference to "partnership" activity the wife should get a needs-based award."

The principle of sharing is simply not engaged. This, of course, is the guidance of those passages of White and Miller that deal with inherited or pre-marital resources."

"Pre-marital wealth is a very important factor and can act so as to displace the sharing principle altogether. Put another way, there can be a departure from sharing to need in a case where virtually all the assets are pre-marital or derive there from."

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