Sunday Times Rich List

I have little interest in the private lives of the rich and famous and have tried to avoid the saga of McCartney/Mills divorce, but it is proving impossible. The Telegraph reports today Heather Mills has employed forensic accounts to challenge the valuation of Paul McCartney's assets to 'encourage' him to make 'discrete' maintenance payments for their daughter. In the divorce proceedings Paul McCartney claimed his assets were worth £400m, although the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 estimated the value of £825m. This was reminiscent of the Deas divorce reported here in the Scotsman during 2002.

At the time it was alleged in the media that Alex Deas, an entrepreneur, had been worth more than £400m during the mid-nineties and had been included in the Sunday Times Rich List. I remember this couldn't be verified, although I knew in the mid-nineties he had an investment in a technology company that had been valued at $490m. A year or so later the technology bubble burst and the technologies were sold to a Taiwanese company at a much reduced price. Dr Deas share was worth £4.2m. Whether his inclusion in the Sunday Times Rich List was a complete delusion or the figure of £490m was misquoted remains a mystery, but either way I fear the Sunday Times or the Scotsman had not done their homework.