Neighbours from hell: The £65m 'Bitch from Budapest' and an unseemly spat on a genteel gated estate

She has boasted of a £65million fortune and friendship with the Duchess of York.

So when self-proclaimed property tycoon Ilona Szekeres bought a £900,000 home on an exclusive gated development, she might have expected her neighbours to be impressed.

But after a series of disputes more typical of a run-down council estate, the well-heeled residents have taken to calling the 44-year-old, whose father was Hungarian, 'The Bitch from Budapest'.

The feud came to an embarrassing head when Miss Szekeres was arrested and handcuffed by four policemen before being questioned on suspicion of assaulting one of her neighbours.

It is understood that Miss Szekeres denies the assault. The divorced mother of one has been bailed until September.

It was not long after Miss Szekeres moved into a four-bedroom home at The Paddocks - a new 27-home private estate in Goff's Oak, Hertfordshire, just north of the M25 - that relations with the neighbours began to sour.

First they complained that she allowed her four rottweilers to run wild.

Then they claimed she was leaving her bin bags outside all week.

There was even legal action after she stopped paying the estate's £50-a-month management fees two years ago.

A neighbour said: 'Everyone here is pretty well-off.

'Soon after we all moved in there was a communal barbecue where she was bragging she was worth £65million.

'Since then she's become notorious for her behaviour and bad temper.

'Nobody believes she really has £65million. We call her The Bitch from Budapest.'

An aerial view of the gated development called The Paddocks in Goff's Oak, Herfordshire, where Miss Szekeres bought a £900,000 house

Neighbour Leigh Darnell, 40, a builder who lives in an £800,000 house, claims that in February Miss Szekeres attacked him on his doorstep.

It is claimed that she went round and hammered on Mr Darnell's door during a 40th birthday party for his wife Emma, a legal executive, and complained that fireworks had upset her dogs.

But her enemies at The Paddocks allege that she was more angered at not being invited.

Party dispute: Emma Darnell

Miss Szekeres, who was born above a chip shop in Leeds to a Hungarian foundry-worker father and a Spanish mother, has spoken about how she is a reputable businesswoman.

According to her, she began dealing second-hand cars as a schoolgirl, went into gold bullion dealing, then built up a huge property empire.

But she is no stranger to controversy.

In 1995 her former business partner Nigel Bass was jailed for three months for kidnapping her Persian cat, William, in a plot to claim £24,500 he said she owed him.

Three years ago she was in the news again, discussing plans to buy the Duchess of York's former marital home - Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, nicknamed 'Southyork' - for £10million to turn it into a spa.
 
Miss Szekeres told journalists she had a 'good friendship' with Sarah Ferguson, 46, that would guarantee the plan's success.

But the Duchess denied they were friends, as well as claims that she had borrowed money from Miss Szekeres. And the spa talk came to nothing.

Miss Szekeres did not respond to a request for a comment.

Mr and Mrs Darnell also declined to speak.

A police spokesman said: 'A 44-year-old woman was held in police custody following her arrest on July 11 on suspicion of assault, causing actual bodily harm.
 
'The matter involves an alleged incident which happened in February this year. Inquiries are ongoing at this stage.'