Furniture designer battles for half of £18million house she insists her billionaire tycoon ex promised her during 'lunch on snow-covered mountains' By MILO POPE Published: 10:28, 21 November 2024 | Updated: 10:58, 21 November 2024 e-mail View comments A furniture designer is locked in a multi-million pound court fight with her tycoon ex and his former company for half of their £18million house which he reportedly promised her during a 'lunch on a snowcapped mountain' in the Alps. Aged 20, Christina Haynes was less than half her 46-year-old multimillionaire boyfriend Mark Austin's age when they met in 2000 and began a 'blissfully happy' relationship, during which they had two children. She gave up her job and the couple set up home in a west London mansion now worth £18m, with Mr Austin sinking his wealth into offshore trusts which by 2018 were worth roughly £66m.
By 2017 the pair had split and, following Family Court proceedings, Mr Austin, now 70, agreed to pay her £2.75m to buy a new house for her and the kids. However, the tycoon has failed to pay the money, leading Ms Haynes to take him to court as well as his former company, Hamersley Invest Anstalt, the company through which the trust has owned the house since 2006.
Ms Haynes last week claimed that she had been promised half of their former home when Mr Austin took her to a lunch with the manager of his wealth trusts in the Liechtenstein Alps in 2014. Ms Haynes says her ex sat next door while, over a mountaintop lu.
