Heather 'can't wait to sue'

Aprat from the nine days he spent in a Japanese jail on drug charges, Sir Paul McCartney was never apart from his first wife Linda.

So it is perhaps no wonder that tongues have started wagging after it emerged that the former Beatle and his second wife Heather have spent five nights away from each other.

The ex-model has been at their seafront home in Hove all week while her 63-year-old husband has been shuttling between their London townhouse in St John's Wood and their farm in Peasmarsh, East Sussex.

Yesterday the couple, who have a two-year-old daughter, Beatrice, were quick to deny any problems after a Sunday newspaper said they were on the verge of splitting. They blamed their separation on the paparazzi who have been trying to get a picture of Heather in a wheelchair following a serious operation on her leg.

She said: 'We have only just got back together from Los Angeles, where Paul was recording and I had my operation. We haven't been apart until these last couple of days when I have had to hide.

'I have had a revision amputation and am keeping my head down.

'Of course we are together - it is hilarious. I can't wait to sue because I will make a fortune for my charity.'

Heather, 37, lost part of her leg below the knee when she was hit by a police motorbike 13 years ago in Kensington, West London.

She had the 'revision amputation', meaning that she had more of her stump removed, in the U.S. three weeks ago.

She returned to Britain in a wheelchair but, after follow-up treatment at a hospital near her Hove home and after having a new artificial leg fitted, she recently started walking again with the aid of crutches.

Her publicist said yesterday that Sir Paul had been 'very supportive' and added: 'There is nothing sinister in them being apart for a few days. She has had a major operation and decided to stay in Hove because it was nearest to her hospital.