A financial divorce settlement between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills was in the balance last night after the couple emerged from eight hours of negotiations at a private High Court hearing.

It is believed that the pair have agreed a package worth in the region of £50 million — but that the negotiations have stalled over the scope of the confidentiality clause to be included.

Ms Mills, 39, is thought to want to be free to discuss the terms of any deal, as well as their marriage, while Sir Paul requires complete confidentiality as the price for his offer.

The couple and their lawyers left the court annexe where the hearing took place with no statement on whether they were close to what could be the biggest divorce settlement in British history.

But legal sources confirmed that a deal had been “touch and go” and was “very much in the balance”. The hearing could be continued either today or next week.

The hearing in Court 16 in an annexe of the Royal Courts of Justice in High Holborn lasted well beyond normal court hours, which end at 4pm.

The aim, as the world’s media waited outside, was to get a last-minute agreement and avoid a costly and public court hearing. Despite efforts to keep the event secret, details had emerged and were disclosed by The Times at the beginning of this week.

The judge, Mr Justice Coleridge, looked at all the offers and counteroffers and proposed to the couple what he thought a court would award if the dispute were to go to trial.

The couple used judges’ entrances to get to Court 16 and avoid any contact with the media. Even the spyhole on the door of the court had been covered with tape. The noticeboard outside contained neither the names of the two parties nor that of the judge. The case was listed only as FD06D03721.

As the time approached for the hearing to begin, officials at First Avenue House, the principal family registry in High Holborn, barricaded the entrance to the court with four office chairs in the corridor, preventing anyone coming within 10ft of the door. Officials ignored any questions about the court’s occupants and would not confirm the name of the judge hearing the case. At 9.30am, a black Ford Mondeo swept into the rear courtyard and a minder stepped out, carrying a folded wheelchair. As he held up a wide black cloth to frustrate prying eyes, a blonde-haired woman assumed to be Ms Mills emerged and entered the building.

Thirty minutes later, Sir Paul and his entourage arrived at the back gates. Dressed in a charcoal grey suit with white shirt and dark tie, he delivered his usual thumbs-up gesture before composing himself and walking into the court building.

Shortly after midday, Sir Paul emerged and strolled silently and impassively to the public lavatory. Asked how things were going, he raised his eyebrows quizzically.

A lunch break created the next frisson in what was a long waiting game. A bag of Pret a Manger sandwiches and soft drinks was delivered to the parties. Ten minutes later Sir Paul appeared outside the court eating a slice of cake.

With a twinkle in his eye he asked three female journalists who were also eating their lunch: “Are you having fun?” Was he? As he re-entered the court he performed a mock melodramatic stagger.

Hours later, as he left in a black Lexus from the front of the building at 6.41pm, Sir Paul flashed a V-for-victory sign. Ms Mills left from the rear in a Ford Mondeo. She shielded her face. Neither said anything.

Little more than an hour after leaving the court, Sir Paul attended the opening of a new gallery in Piccadilly. He paused for photos before entering the Established & Sons gallery. A few minutes later, his daughters, Mary and Stella, arrived accompanied by the American actress Thandie Newton. The former Beatle left the gallery at 9.15pm.

Sir Paul, 65, could have to pay his former wife more than £50 million from his estimated £825 million fortune — made up of a lump sum of £30 million to £35 million and annual payments for their daughter Beatrice, 3.

Subsequent spats in the courts over what was believed to be care of their child and public statements by Ms Mills did not support this.

They married in June 2002, four years after his first wife, Linda, died of breast cancer. Sir Paul and Ms Mills met at a charity event in 1999, and their relationship immediately made headlines, not simply because of the difference in their ages but also because of the supposed disapproval of Sir Paul’s children.

Since they split in May last year, the couple’s divorce has been played out acrimoniously in the public eye, with Ms Mills saying in March that securing a divorce deal was like “getting blood out of a stone”. Sir Paul has kept silent on the matter.

The deal is expected to outstrip the £48 million that the insurance broker John Charman, 53, was ordered to pay his former wife Beverley in May this year in the biggest contested divorce settlement to date.

Splitting assets

2003 Shan Lambert won an equal share of her husband Harry Lambert’s £20 million fortune from free newspapers

2005 The businessman Sir Martin Sorrell was ordered to pay his former wife nearly £30 million

2006 The law lords confirmed that a short marriage was no bar to an equal split of assets and Melissa Miller could keep £5 million of her fund manager husband’s £17.5 million fortune

2006 Julia McFarlane wins £250,000 a year from her husband’s future income for an indefinite period

2007 Beverley Charman, left, won a ruling backing her right to keep her award of £48 million – the biggest ordered by British courts

about bloody time!

Thank God!