LONDON, Feb 15, 2008 (AFP) - Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather could not resist a dig at the pop legend Friday after he declined to sign an autograph, the fan who tried to get the signature said.

The Beatles fan tried to get McCartney to sign an original copy of the 1968 White Album as the 65-year-old turned up for the fifth day of hearings at the High Court seeking to agree a divorce deal.

McCartney, who has smiled for cameras but remained tight-lipped all week about the behind-closed-doors hearings, explained that he could not sign the album, said the fan, Joe, who declined to give his full name.

"I told her Paul had refused to sign and she said 'That's a pity, you are the sort of person who has made him what he is today,'"said the 50-year-old fan from east London, who took a day off work to try to get the autograph.

McCartney and Mills announced an amicable split in 2006 after four years of marriage, but relations have since deteriorated.

Their divorce deal could be the highest divorce settlement in Britain, outstripping the 48 million pounds (64 million euros, 94 million dollars) businessman John Charman was told to pay his former wife last year.

McCartney is estimated to be worth 825 million pounds, but last year's Sunday Times Rich List, billed as the definitive guide to wealth, made a 100-million-pound allowance for a possible divorce settlement.