LONDON (Reuters) - A freelance photographer found guilty of assaulting Heather Mills, the estranged wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, was spared jail on Thursday, British media reported.

Jay Kaycappa, 32, was found guilty last month of grabbing Mills by the shoulder in an underground passageway in July 2006 in order to swing her round to take a better photo.

Kaycappa, who Brighton Magistrates' Court heard had committed 132 previous offences which had led to 20 convictions, was sentenced to do 140 hours of community work and told to pay Mills 100 pounds ($200).

He was also ordered to pay 50 pounds to Mills's friend Mark Payne, whom he had been convicted of assaulting the following day.

Former model Mills, in the middle of a high-profile divorce battle with McCartney, told the court during the trial she had felt like a "trapped animal" after being confronted by Kaycappa.

"Heather is delighted that justice has been done and hopes that the photographers who pursue her on a daily basis will now leave her and her daughter alone," her spokesman said after the guilty verdict.