Heather: I have tape of Paul 'admitting that he hit Linda'

Sir Paul's estranged wife played the tape in an off-camera moment during her emotional tour of TV and radio stations yesterday, according to a newspaper report.

'Suicidal' Heather says 'I'm hated like Kate McCann' during media blitz on Macca

A witness who heard the tape said: "It was quite extraordinary. There were raised voices. Heather and Paul were shouting. Paul can be heard confessing he hit Linda 'once or twice'.

Heather's TV outburst in full

"No one knew what to do. It was astonishing stuff and seemed to back up Heather's claim that she's the victim in all of this."

What was not clear today was when the tape was made - or why Ms Mills started taping her arguments with Sir Paul. A spokesman for Sir Paul declined to comment.

What was certain, however, is that the extraordinary barrage of interviews yesterday - from GMTV and This Morning to BBC News 24 - has had a huge impact, although not necessarily the one Ms Mills envisaged.

One TV presenter who saw it all at first hand, Phillip Schofield of This Morning, described her as a "woman on the very edge" who had gone "into meltdown". His comments came after one of the most bizarre interviews in which Ms Mills, who is locked in an acrimonious divorce battle with her multi-millionaire husband, likened herself to Kate McCann and Princess Diana and claimed she had considered suicide. Speaking at last night's National Television Awards, Schofield said: "She is clearly a very, very, very angry woman. We found out a couple of minutes after the GMTV interview that she was coming onto This Morning. I think she is obviously a woman right on the very edge. It must be very tough for her living under such intense scrutiny.

"I hate it when people go into meltdown on my show. Her life is tough but she hasn't made it any easier for herself."

Schofield, who with co-host Fern Britton interviewed Ms Mills after she had earlier launched her offensive on GMTV, insisted however that he felt Ms Mills was a "good mother" and said she was "standing up for what she believes in".

It was also revealed today that Ms Mills's PR adviser has quit over her tirade against the media yesterday. Phil Hall, a former editor of the News Of The World, was strongly against Ms Mills going on television to hit out at her detractors - including calling for a boycott of the Sun.

Mr Hall confirmed today that he was no longer representing Ms Mills. He said: "We are still mates but I am not working with her any more. Yesterday she said she wanted to do this TV campaign attacking newspapers, but I have a good relationship with newspapers and my business depends on feeding that good relationship.

"She wanted me to orchestrate this campaign and make calls to newspapers but I have got friends and mates in national newspapers and it didn't seem right to make those calls and attack them."

He added that Ms Mills was now handling her own PR. He said she called GMTV herself to set up yesterday's interview where she showed a folder of clippings and spoke of "4,400 abusive articles" about her.

Mr Hall said: "My advice to her for the past 18 months has been, 'keep your head down and let's wait until the divorce is over, and then rebuild your career afterwards' through the charity and foundations she works for.

"That's the way it was going. We've had very few conversations with newspapers as far as placing any stories are concerned apart from denying the more extreme stuff."