When I split from my ex, I was horrified to learn I’d get nothing from the sale of our family home. Here’s the mistake you MUST avoid so you don’t end up duped like me, warns CHRISTINA HAYNES

A woman whose multi-millionaire tycoon partner staged an ‘elaborate performance’ in the Liechtenstein Alps to deceive her over her financial rights has warned other women to learn from her mistakes.

Furniture designer Christina Haynes was whisked to the wealthy tax haven by company director Mark Austin, her partner of 14 years and the father of her two children, to sign what she believed were official legal documents promising her half the value of their £18 million London mansion if it ever had to be sold.

The couple had never married and Ms Haynes, 44, was led to believe that the move would help guarantee long-term financial security for herself and their children in the absence of a wedding ring.

But she was left devastated earlier this month following a High Court ruling that the documents did not give her any legal rights to the property – and were, in fact, a ‘cruel’ gesture designed to keep her happy.

Giving her first interview about the betrayal, she has told The Mail on Sunday she is determined her experience should serve as a warning to prevent other women from being financially hoodwinked by their partner.

‘Seek independent legal advice,’ she advises. 

‘If your partner loves you as much as they claim, they won’t have a problem with you doing that, in fact they’ll support you because it’s the right thing to do.

‘If they present something with a smile and ask you to sign it, saying it’s for your protection, be wary.’

Ms Haynes, a former travel editor who gave up her job to raise their children, insists she had no reason to doubt the charismatic and adventurous Mr Austin.

They had met through mutual friends in 2000 and enjoyed what she describes as a ‘blissfully happy’ relationship.

Mr Austin, who is 27 years her senior and had been married twice before, owned an image library company, Digital Vision Ltd, and travelled the world pursuing a passion for polo.

The couple discussed having a wedding in Ibiza in 2006, but the plans were put on hold when Christina became pregnant with their son, who was born in 2007. 

Their daughter arrived in 2011.

Their relationship was, by all accounts, unconventional. Mr Austin had moved to Switzerland to avoid high taxes, having sold his company to Getty Images.

The proceeds had been placed into offshore trusts, including one registered in Liechtenstein.

He travelled back and forward to the family home, a mansion in London’s Holland Park, which was bought for £5.5 million and the ownership transferred to a trust.

But it was, Christina admits, a charmed life. The home had two live-in staff, gardeners and top-of-the-range Bentleys and Range Rovers parked outside.

Their neighbours included Robbie Williams, the Beckhams and Richard Branson, and their holidays were spent in luxurious, far-flung destinations such as the Maldives, India and the Alps.

But as the years went by, she began to question the fact that they had not married.

‘Mark wanted the facade of being a family,’ she says. ‘I had expected us to be loving nuclear family, hanging out together and having fun. And I really did want to be married, to have the same name as my children.’

So when, in 2014, Mr Austin invited her to Liechtenstein, ostensibly to sign documents about the house, Christina says she readily agreed. 

There were no ‘red flags’, she says. 

Indeed, she claims she would do the same thing again.

‘The way I felt about Mark, I couldn’t have imagined him doing this at all,’ she adds. ‘And if I had had concerns, I bet my life, he would have looked me in the eyes and told me it was all in my mind.’

She flew to Zurich in March 2014 and spent a night in the five-star Dolder Grand Hotel before being driven to Liechtenstein.

At a meeting in the trust’s offices, Christina was told Mr Austin had signed a document known as a ‘Letter of Wishes’ in which he outlined his expectation for the trust to give Christina – and the children – a share of the Holland Park property were it to be sold. 

Reassured by his signature, she signed another ‘Letter of Wishes’ that mirrored his.

A lawyer notarised the signing, leaving her convinced that Mr Austin’s wishes would be formalised in the future. But, as the court later heard, this was not the case.

The couple separated in February 2018, for reasons Christina would rather not disclose but which led to the relationship becoming ‘rapidly acrimonious’.

And when Mr Austin’s trust moved to sell the family home, Christina’s lawyers told her the terrible truth: the documents she signed were not legally binding. 

Despite his written wishes, Mr Austin – then worth around £66 million – had decided she was not due to get a penny.

He agreed in Family Court proceedings to pay her £2.75 million, but when that did not materialise she went back to court, claiming he had pledged to give her half of the value of the family home.

However, Judge Joanne Wicks KC rejected the claim at the High Court, concluding the Liechtenstein trip had been an ‘elaborate performance designed to make her feel listened to’. 

Many people would consider the deceit ‘a cruelty’, she said, ‘but that is insufficient to give her legal rights’.

Christina dismisses claims she was after Mr Austin’s money – pointing out that ‘when men talk about money it’s a smart business move; when a woman does she’s instantly labelled a gold digger’.

And, after all, the law would have looked very differently on her claim had they been married.

‘People think if you’re with someone for ten years, 20 years, it means something but in the eyes of the law, it doesn’t and that’s what’s happened to me,’ she says.

‘As Mark told me very clearly after we split up, “You’ve just become another file on my desk”.’

Christina has now sold the cars, her diamonds and her ‘obscene’ collection of handbags to pay the bills. 

She has a roof over her head until the trust provides her with another property – but that comes with other problems, including that she can no longer afford the staff.

‘This house isn’t a cosy home, it’s a bona fide nightmare, akin to painting the Golden Gate Bridge, where as soon as you get to the end, the beginning demands your attention again,’ she says.

And her take-home for other women is simple: get a lawyer.