The details of the divorce deal between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills look about to be made public by the High Court judge who has the task of deciding how much the former Beatle must pay out.

The unusual move by Mr Justice Bennett - who heard details this month of the couple's offers and counter-claims over six days in private — comes because of the intense level of public interest in the case.

The judge confirmed today that he will deliver his decision on March 17. He will then decide — after both sides have put forward further argument — whether to release his judgment.

He is likely to favour publicity. The judge has previously published a ruling in a divorce case: he released a 24-page judgment in which he ordered Sir Martin Sorrell, the advertising and marketing magnate, to pay his former wife almost £30 million from his £75 million fortune.

The decision could influence whether or not Ms Mills decides to go on to the Court of Appeal, where details of her claim and Sir Paul's offer would automatically become public.

Ms Mills is believed to favour the publicity that going to the Court of Appeal would give her, while Sir Paul has insisted that the price for his offer, believed to be in the region of £25 million, with generous annual payments, is complete confidentiality.

A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office today confirmed: “The judge will hand down his judgment in private on March 17, 2008. He will then decide, having heard submissions from the parties, whether or not to make the judgment public in whole or in part.”

Mr Justice Bennett is dealing with cases in Cardiff but will return to London to give his ruling. Any public version would almost certainly be heavily revised and edited.

There would therefore be two judgments: one for public consumption, avoiding details of Sir Paul's provision for the couple's child, Beatrice; and the full judgment for Sir Paul, Ms Mills and their advisers.

Even an edited version however would put paid to continuing speculation about much the former Beatle will have to pay the former model from his reputed £825 million fortune.

There have been reports of demands from Miss Mills varying between £10 million and £60 million to end the four-year marriage, although it is believed that she is pushing for a package worth some £70 million.

The consensus of lawyers is that a judge would be likely to award her in the region of £25 million.

If either she or Sir Paul does not agree with the judge's ruling, the case could go to the Court of Appeal where High Court Family Division privacy ends and the case moves into the public eye.

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