SACRAMENTO (AP) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rung up legal bills of more than a half million dollars to defend himself and campaign aides in libel cases related to groping allegations made during the 2003 recall election.

Records released Monday show that Schwarzenegger has paid almost $116,618 last year to prominent British attorney Keith Schilling known in the English press as ``the most feared lawyer in Britain.''

Schwarzenegger and two campaign aides are fighting a libel suit in a London court brought by a former British television host who claims she was once groped by Schwarzenegger and was later defamed by the governor's campaign staff when they commented about the it during the recall campaign.

The governor is spending money donated to his Californians for Schwarzenegger committee to pay for the legal work. He organized that committee to support his election in the recall campaign.

Records show the committee paid more than $200,000 to a pair of California-based attorneys who helped settle a separate libel suit last summer brought against the governor and his aides by a movie stuntwoman who claimed Schwarzenegger's campaign lied about another groping incident.

Martin Singer, a Los Angeles-based attorney who helped represent the governor and his staff on the libel case brought by stuntwoman Rhonda Miller, said all the billing related directly to the two libel cases.

``The only fees paid by CFS (Californians for Schwarzenegger) related to the campaign and the two libel cases,'' said Singer, who also represented the governor in a skirmish last summer between one of Schwarzenegger's production companies and an Ohio company that wanted to produce bobblehead dolls in the governor's image.

``I have many, many other issues involving Arnold Schwarzenegger that are not paid for by CFS,'' he said.

California law allows an officeholder to use campaign contributions to defend the candidate or aides against legal action stemming out of campaign activity, said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and a former counsel to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

In both libel cases, women accused Schwarzenegger campaign aides of wrongdoing in response to allegations of unwanted advances from Schwarzenegger in the past. The allegations were part of a broad assault on Schwarzenegger and were set off by a Los Angeles Times story five days before the recall election.

Still pending in England is a complaint from television host Anna Richardson, who was one of six women who accused Schwarzenegger in the Times story.

Richardson said Schwarzenegger made lewd comments and touched her breast when she was interviewing him in 2000 on a movie promotional tour. She claimed in her suit that Schwarzenegger later falsely painted her as the instigator of the incident in an account delivered by his aides to the media.

Earlier this month, a British judge cleared the way for Richardson's case to move forward, dismissing an argument from attorneys representing one of Schwarzenegger's aides that British courts do not have jurisdiction.

Singer said Schwarzenegger has made the same motion, arguing that he did not make any of the allegedly libelous statements nor did he order them to be made. No ruling has yet been issued on Schwarzenegger's motion and no trial date has been set.

Schilling, who could not be reached Monday, is the same lawyer who won an apology and undisclosed settlement two years ago for actress Nicole Kidman from an English tabloid that alleged she had an adulterous affair.

Campaign records show that Schilling was paid $116,618 last year and is still owed more than over $150,000 from the Schwarzenegger campaign.

Miller's suit was dismissed in July, when a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to support her contention that Schwarzenegger aides knowingly spread false information about her to reporters.

One day before the recall election, Miller called a news conference to claim that Schwarzenegger, while on a movie set, had lifted her shirt and assaulted her.

Hours after her announcement, Schwarzenegger's spokesman Sean Walsh directed reporters to court records of a Rhonda Miller who had a history of drug crimes, prostitution and disorderly conduct. Those charges were made against a different woman named Rhonda Miller.

Singer was paid nearly $180,000 by the governor's political campaign last year.

Attorney Neil Shapiro of Monterey, who at times has represented Walsh on the Miller case, also received $37,840 from Schwarzenegger's campaign fund.

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