Katie Holmes wants a divorce with Tom Cruise, as she filed the papers in New York on Thursday asking for custody of her six-year-old daughter Suri. Tom Cruise has exclaimed he is “deeply saddened” at Katie’s decision to be separated. The couple filed their marriage certificate in California in 2006.

Katie is alleged to have decided on the divorce and therefore arranged for it weeks back. New York Post reported, she had rented an apartment, a smart Chelsea property where monthly rents cost between $4,000 (£2,554) and $25,000 (£15,960), to hide with daughter Suri.

It is thought that Holmes intentionally filed for divorce in New York state and not California, because New York family law judges dislike giving conflicting parents joint custody because of a conviction that joint custody may affect the child and its life.

Suri is now studying in a Scientology-influenced school. Tom Cruise’s enthusiasm for Scientology is in clash with Katie’s dislike for it and the mother is predicted to take the daughter out of the school once she gets her custody.

Meanwhile, Katie reportedly suspects she is being spied by investigators hired by Scientologists. A source informed about an Mercedes SUV that was seen sitting outside Tom’s apartment in Greenwich Village three days before the divorce was filed.

“They were sat about a hundred yards from the house — a couple of suspicious-looking characters in sunglasses. When Katie came out they tried to discreetly follow her. It was obvious they weren’t paparazzi or Press. They looked like former military or police and were carrying a small pocket digital camera,” the source recalled.

She as being watched even after she rented her Chelsea apartment. Katie Holmes thinks the church of Scientology suspects her a threat on the verge of her divorce with the church’s staunch believer, Tom Cruise.

•