A prominent entrepreneur in the gourmet sausage industry is taking legal action against a former associate, seeking nearly £500,000 after a disagreement over a joint property investment.

Tracy Mackness, who leads The Giggly Pig company, partnered with Maria Chilton to invest in a two-bedroom bungalow in Battle, East Sussex, six years ago, with the intention of renovating and selling it for profit.

Mackness asserts that the pair agreed to upgrade the property together before putting it on the market.

However, the 61-year-old alleges that Chilton reneged on their arrangement, claiming that her former friend has been living in the bungalow without paying rent for the past two and a half years, leaving Mackness responsible for the mortgage payments alone.

Their relationship has deteriorated to the point where they are no longer on speaking terms, prompting Mackness to pursue a lawsuit against Chilton.

This isn’t Mackness’s first brush with the headlines. She previously captured public attention when she was sentenced to a decade in prison in 2007 for her involvement in a £4 million cannabis importation scheme.

After leaving prison she managed to turn her life around and built up her bangers empire. 

She now runs a company which turns over half-a-million pounds a year and is based round an 800-head pedigree Saddleback pig farm and shop near Romford, Essex.

A wealthy sausage firm tycoon is suing her former friend for nearly half a million pounds following a bust-up over a bungalow they bought together to renovate and sell on for a profit. Tracy Mackness (pictured) went into the property venture with Maria Chilton when invested in a two bedroom bungalow in Battle, East Sussex, six years ago

She claims they planned to renovate it together and sell it on. But 61-year-old Ms Mackness has accused her former friend of going back on their agreement. Their dispute centres on the the bungalow they bought for £290,000 in August 2019

It is not the first Ms Mackness has been in the news. She made headlines when she was jailed for 10 years for conspiracy to import £4 million of cannabis in 2007. After leaving prison she managed to turn her life around and built up her bangers empire

Their dispute centres on the the bungalow they bought for £290,000 in August 2019.

Ms Mackness put in £100,000 while her then friend stumped up £80,000. They got a mortgage for £150,000 from Metro Bank so the remainder of the cash could be used for home improvements.

The property has since been refurbished but rather than being able to sell it on for a profit, Ms Chilton has apparently not contributed towards the mortgage since September 2022.

She now values the house at £650,000 – more than double the original purchase price – and is claiming £450,000 in damages.

The property was remortgaged with Birmingham Midshires in March 2021 for £232,745, court papers say.

After expenses, Ms Mackness held the sum of £80,034 and currently pays mortgage interest repayments of £443 a month.

She believes that the bungalow could bring in rent of £1,250 a month if it was let on an assured shorthold tenancy.

The two women started to have arguments over money in October 2023 and their friendship irretrievably broke down in April 2024.

She now runs a company which turns over half-a-million pounds a year and is based round an 800-head pedigree Saddleback pig farm and shop near Romford, Essex

Ms Mackness set up The Giggly Pig upon her release and the successful business now turns over half a million pounds a year, and has been featured on Country File, The One Show, and radio

Ms Mackness is now bringing the dispute to the High Court in London to force through a sale of the property with proceeds divided between them – 74.63 per cent and 25.37 cent in her favour – as well as payment of occupation rent.

When approached by the Mail, Ms Chilton was reluctant to go into details, but said: ‘What Tracy is saying is untrue, but I don’t want to say anything further until I’ve spoken to my solicitor.’

Ms Mackness took a qualification in pig husbandry while working with the animals on a farm at East Sutton Park Open Prison in Maidstone, Kent.

She set up The Giggly Pig upon her release and the successful business now turns over half a million pounds a year, and has been featured on Country File, The One Show, and radio.

As well as a range of 40 different speciality sausages, she offers hog roasts and catering services, and sells her pork products at farmers’ markets.

Her remarkable story is told on the company’s website, in her public speaking, and in her book Jail Bird = The Life and Crimes of an Essex Bad Girl.

The High Court action against Ms Chilton is the second time she has found herself involved in a legal battle with one of her nearest and dearest, having been sued by her own mother four years ago.

Caroline Mackness, 77, took her daughter to court in 2021 over an agreement that she sign over her house to her daughter.

The pensioner claimed she had no clear idea what she was doing when she gifted her £550,000 house in Harold Wood, Romford, to Ms Mackness back in 2016, and had been left ‘a guest in her own home’.

Her daughter argued the property transfer went through with her agreement and was designed to protect her from having to sell her home to pay for care costs in future while giving her the right to stay there for life.

During a four-day trial, Judge Mark Raeside QC ruled that Mrs Mackness senior lacked sufficient mental awareness to understand what she was doing, and that the property gift was also ‘procured by undue influence’.

However he also ruled that Ms Mackness junior was ‘not in fault’ and ‘was not trying to obtain her mother’s property, but acting in what she thought was her mother’s best interests’ when the house was transferred to her.