Heather Mills's divorce battle over Sir Paul McCartney's reputed £825 million fortune will be decided by a High Court judge.

It will be up to Mr Justice Bennett to divide the spoils of their four-year marriage after the couple spent a week and a day in court behind closed doors.

Nicholas Mostyn QC, who has been representing the former Beatle in his fight with the former model, agreed as he left court that the judge had reserved his ruling.

This means rumours the couple had reached a settlement at the weekend were unfounded.

Mr Justice Bennett will decide on how the spoils of the marriage will be shared out and the conditions to be imposed on the warring couple.

His judgment, which will follow in a few weeks, will be binding on both former Beatle Sir Paul and Miss Mills, but could be challenged at the Court of Appeal if one side is unhappy about it.

But that would entail a dramatic change - no longer would the accusations from both sides be kept secret behind the doors of the court in the private Family Division of the High Court. If either party goes to appeal, the case becomes very public with all the documents and argument open to scrutiny.

It is well known that Sir Paul is anxious to keep the details of his four-year marriage to Miss Mills, who lost part of her leg in a road accident in 1993, out of the public domain.

But Miss Mills has no such qualms - she is reported to be planning a book on the subject which has the potential to earn her millions of pounds worldwide.

They married in June 2002, four years after Sir Paul's first wife Linda died of breast cancer.