You know what happens when you mess with Paul McCartney? Your dirty past, whether fact or fiction, comes back to haunt you. That's the lesson Heather Mills should be learning after she dared tempt fate, rebuffing her $50 million divorce settlement, which she has said was not enough after initially seeking $250 million, and trashing her ex-husband in the press

So how is Paul paying her back?

While it can't be confirmed, an item in today's Sun about Mills' past, as a call girl who played out lesbian scenes in front of wealthy clients willing to dole out $20k a night, looks suspiciously like a soiling campaign.

The charges arrive tonight in Heather Mills: What Really Happened, Channel 4's look into Mills' pre-McCartney years, with former call girl Denise Hewitt making the allegations that Mills was the original Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

The hour-long show probes Lady Mucca’s background in a bid to sort out the truth among all the stories that have emerged since her failed marriage to Sir Paul McCartney, 65.

Top of their list is attempting to find the facts behind tales that Heather, now 40, worked as a prostitute in her 20s while struggling to make a living.

And, in a rare interview, former vice girl Denise tells all about the pair’s time together in the 1980s when she alleges they sold their bodies for sex and raked in the cash.

The 44-year-old former model says: “We have a naughty background. We went into high-class prostitution behind closed doors.

“There were 10 of us. We are select girls from Newcastle and we kept it close-knit with three of the most powerful men in the world.”

The men she names include the late Australian tycoon Kerry Packer and one of the Saudi royal princes.

“They were the big fish,” says Denise. “We also had others who were classed as sugar daddies.

“We used to get a lot of jewellery as gifts – rings, watches, Bulgari bracelets, cars. The world was our oyster. We enjoyed it.

“We would have full-on sex with a guy. We’d do girlie-girlie scenes. Always girlie-girlie scenes.

“I mean 99.9% of men like a girlie- girlie scene. It’s a play act. You need to be an actress. Whatever you want out of life, you’ve got to act for.”

Denise – who was once wed to a construction millionaire – claims the pair naively thought they could keep their seedy life hush-hush.

But when Heather’s marriage to Macca hit the rocks two years ago, the saucy stories leaked out.

Denise adds: “No-one knew what we did and we didn’t expect it would come out.

“I don’t look on it as sleazy. It was experiencing something we couldn’t have experienced if we hadn’t done this.

“I mean working-class women wouldn’t get £10,000 a night.

“People go out in Newcastle and do it for free, then can’t remember the next day who they have been with.”

Heather earned the nickname Lady Mucca after it emerged that she took part in a German porn photo-book showing off how to have good sex. She also worked as a topless model – and video images of her on a photoshoot are included in tonight’s show.

Mucca has always denied stories about working as a hooker.

Her lawyers issued a statement two years ago when the prostitute rumours started emerging, saying: “These claims are denied.

“The sources clearly are a variety of unreliable persons who have been paid for these stories.”

Heather – who recently won a £24million divorce payout from Sir Paul – maintains that the sleazy tales are part of a long-running campaign against her by the media and Beatles fans who never wanted Macca to marry her.

In one of her infamous telly rants, she said on GMTV: “They’ve called me a whore, a gold-digger, a fantasist, a liar – the most unbelievably hurtful things. [Sun]