MACCA BITES BACK

By James Desborough

Shattered Paul McCartney plans to unleash damning evidence in his bitter divorce battle with Heather Mills.

Hurt by her leaked court papers claiming he was a violent, drug-taking drunk, Macca has enough ammunition to destroy the beauty's lies — and prove that it was HER who was the violent nightmare in their four-year marriage.

In our exclusive coverage, you can also read:

PAUL'S LOYAL AIDE ON HEATHER'S 'LIES'

HEATHER'S FATHER THINKS SHE'S 'MAD'

For the first time since the showbiz divorce of the century started, one of Sir Paul's aides has broken ranks to tell the News of the World how Heather:

# SMASHED up chairs and threw ornaments at the singer in screaming rows at their Peasmarsh home.

# HURLED a bottle of ketchup at him during one blazing hour-long bust-up over dinner.

# RANTED at him constantly in front of staff, branding him "old man", and a "b*stard".

# SPAT out her chilling threat to ruin him in a car-park showdown, yelling: "I'm absolutely gonna take you to the cleaners."

# DEMANDED Sir Paul use his millions to buy a string of homes.

# LONGED to have her own chat show—and FANTASISED about becoming the new Posh.

# DESERTED bewildered Macca for weeks at a time leaving him to look after toddler Beatrice.

The aide's revelations come as Macca's former loyal PR man Geoff Baker — sacked by the star because of his suspicions about Heather — also blasts holes through the blonde's accusations.
Screaming

Our insider — who does not want to be named — told us: "For Paul the gloves are really off now, and he's ready to trash her in court.

"He refutes her lies and is is preparing to detail HER appalling behaviour. The staff have seen it all — and we reckon he's a saint for putting up with her as long as he did.

"Paul spent millions of pounds on her — but she never appreciated it. She became like Andy from Little Britain —‘I want that one, I want that one — wherever she went. If he turned her down she just let rip at him."

The aide said staff often witnessed fights between the two at the 64-year-old former Beatle's 160-acre estate in Sussex. They heard the couple screaming at each other, and furniture being wrecked in the living and dining rooms and kitchen from September 2003 — a month before Beatrice was born.

Our source said: "It was Heather who caused all the rows by constantly nagging Paul, and they turned violent. Her face would go red with rage.

"I have seen her slam doors in his face, and when he followed her into a room there would be crashing, banging and smashing.

"You could hear what was happening, and it sounded like Heather was the one doing the attacking. Chairs were smashed as well as ornaments. Then the housekeeper would have to come in and clean up afterwards.

"There was at least one of these a month and we'd all walk around with our tin hats on."

Staff dubbed the most vicious fight the "ketchup battle" in September 2003.

"One of the cleaners said it was like a tornado had hit the living room. Vegetarian food was all over the floor, lamps were smashed, crockery, cutlery and glasses were broken.

"But on the wall there were the marks where a bottle of ketchup had been thrown and landed just behind where Paul usually sits. It must have just missed him.

"They had to get special cleaners to clear up the mess. A very expensive carpet was ruined and had to be chucked out.

"This argument was the most talked about, but not the last. Those cleaners visited the house at least five times a year from then on after big rows between them.

"Paul always tried to keep his rows away from the staff, but you couldn't fail to hear Heather screaming. We all knew it was another humdinger and to keep our heads down."

Macca's aides also witnessed a terrifying row in the car park close to their main home on the estate last summer.

"After they pulled up in his Mercedes she leapt out of the car waving her hands at him and screaming, ‘If you wanna get rid of me, do you know how much it is gonna cost you? Do you know how much you stand to lose? I'm absolutely gonna take you to the cleaners'."

Staff believe that was the row which brought home to Sir Paul what a mess he was in. They had known for a long time — and had themselves been on the rough end of her tongue too often.

"She was called the Ice Queen behind her back," said the aide. "She was often rude to us. We all felt that she saw us as slaves."

Slaving

And she reckoned her husband wasn't slaving hard enough to make her a star. Once, when he tried to stop her haranguing him about her potential TV career at the swish Hilden Health Club in Rye, staff heard her rant: "You're an old man.

"You b***tard, don't you care anymore? Don't you love me? I've given you a baby — is this how you repay me?"

The source continued: "Many rows came out of Heather's hopes to make it big on TV. In summer 2004 she was even begging Paul to help her get her own chat show.

"I remember her saying, ‘I want a chat show on my own, everyone else is doing it — why can't I have one?'

Dozens of rows were fuelled by Heather's desire to turn her and rocker Paul into an older version of Posh and Becks.

"Heather dreamt of living like the Beckhams. She wanted that showbiz lifestyle," said our source.

"She desperately wanted to do photo shoots in glossy mags. She kept asking, ‘Why can't we do that. Why are they in there and we're not?'"

She made up for what she saw as her lack of fame by trying to spend like a billionaire. In one heated phone call in March, Paul appealed to his wife to stop demanding he buy more homes, said our source.

"He asked her, ‘How much have you got to have before enough is enough?'"

Troublemaker Heather, 38, would leave the family home for weeks at a time after bitter bust-ups from the summer of 2004 — often going to her home in Brighton.

"She'd just suddenly up sticks, jump in her Porsche and disappear. Then they didn't see each other for a week or even two and he was left with the baby. Two weeks was the longest she stayed away.

"It was always up to Paul to make up, and get his wife back. While she was away he would always say they had a clash of diaries — but to us that was the codeword for they'd fallen out and she'd gone off."

Paul would be left to look after Beatrice. "This is where we all think Heather shoots herself in the foot," said our source.

"In her court papers she alleges Paul is a drunk and drug user, yet she's quite happy to leave the baby with him for a week while she goes off to America at short notice."

Macca's aides believe Heather's divorce paper accusations were a move to prompt him into handing her a whopping payout.

"When he saw those claims Paul was absolutely devastated," added the insider.

"He's still in complete disbelief at what she's said and is going to fight her tooth and nail.

"He's tried to call her but we're told she won't pick up the phone. It's crazy because we all expected an out of court settlement was close to being agreed. Now she's pushing for half of everything or holding out for £200m.

"Paul wants this done and dusted, he wants this dealt with so he can get on with his life and back to normality.

"He doesn't want a slagging match in court or in the media."

However the confidante did claim Macca will bring up Mill's past as a porn model and hooker — revealed by the News of the World — in court.

"Quite simply for Paul the gloves are well and truly off. He will bring up her past life and could take this divorce into a whole new direction." Paul's aide is confident his boss will prove himself innocent of Heather's claims.

"She is living in the realms of fantasy. Many of us have known Paul for more than 20 years and he's not a violent human being.

"I've never seen him drunk with Beatrice and if he has a spliff he becomes your best mate, rather than wants to kill you.

"There are many members of his staff, band and entourage who will testify to that. Heather should be the one doing the worrying."