Heather Mills� step-father has claimed the �hatred� in the ex-model�s divorce battle with Sir Paul McCartney has made their daughter a �secondary� consideration.

Actor Charles Stapley, with whom Heather moved in with when she was 15 after her real father was jailed for fraud, says Mills� split from the former Beatle has become so acrimonious he now worries for their three-year-old daughter.

He tells the ThisisLondon website, �But the person I feel most sorry for is Beatrice, because this divorce is now so full of hatred that the child has taken a back seat. The anger and animosity has drowned out any rational thinking and young Beatrice has become secondary.�