LONDON (AFP) - Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills was branded as "less than candid" and a "less than impressive witness" by a judge on Tuesday in his ruling on their bitter divorce battle.

British High Court judge Hugh Bennett said evidence given by Mills -- who agreed a 24.3-million-pound (31.1-million-euro, 49.1-million-dollar) deal with McCartney Monday -- was also inconsistent and inaccurate.

British newspapers pounced on the 40-year-old former model, whom they have not been kind to in recent years, with the Daily Mirror headling its story on Wednesday: "The Land of Mac Believe".

Similarly, The Sun tabloid headlined its article, "Underhand, inaccurate, reckless, distasteful (...oh, and ridiculous too)".

Mills, who had sought 125 million pounds from the multi-millionaire singer-songwriter, had tried to keep the full ruling from being made public.

But Bennett rejected the claim, and set out in detail why he thought she had sought excessive compensation given that the couple had only been married for four years.

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," he wrote.

"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," he continued.

McCartney married Mills in a lavish ceremony in Ireland in June 2002, four years after his first wife, Linda, died from breast cancer. But endless speculation about their marriage, with reports of furious rows, soon surfaced.

The press was never keen on Mills even though McCartney publicly denied that she was a "gold-digger" after his fortune. They announced an "amicable" split in May 2006 -- triggering the two-year battle that ended this week.

After the divorce ruling Monday, Mills called for the full judgment to be kept secret, arguing it could jeopardise the security of their four-year-old daughter, and that it would "make it look like I wasn't successful."

On Tuesday, Mills described the judgment as "outrageous" while speaking to the BBC, and denied the judge's comment that she was a "less than impressive witness".

The 327-point judgment spared no detail in listing her perceived shortcomings during the hearings.

At one stage, McCartney's lawyer accused her of fraud for having sought 480,000 pounds to pay off a loan on a property outside London, even though there was no mortgage left to reimburse.

The judge said: "In my judgment it is unnecessary to go so far as to characterise what the wife attempted as fraudulent. However, it is not an episode that does her any credit whatsoever."

He also rejected her description of herself as McCartney's "full-time wife, mother, lover, confidante, business partner and psychologist."

"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 said.

McCartney was described in more complimentary terms. "He expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable irritation, if not anger. He was consistent, accurate and honest," said the judge.

In a positive note on Mills, he said she had a "strong-willed and determined personality," and sympathised with the negative press coverage she has had. "She is entitled to feel that she has been ridiculed, even vilified," he said.

But he added: "To some extent she is her own worst enemy. She has an explosive and volatile character.

"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."

Source: AFP