Nigella Lawson 'Was Off Her Head On Drugs'

The claim was made in an email by ex-husband Charles Saatchi ahead of the trial of two former aides accused of fraud. 7:58pm UK, Tuesday 26 November 2013

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Nigella Lawson: Recap our updates of TV chef's second day as witness in fraud trial of former PAs

5 Dec 2013 17:34Recap our live updates as Nigella Lawson was cross-examined in court in the trial of former PAs Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo

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Nigella Lawson: I'm Not Proud Of Drug Use

The TV cook alleges Charles Saatchi's claim he was checking for cocaine when he was pictured holding her throat was "made up". 5:39pm UK, Thursday 05 December 2013

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Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

Follow Nigella Lawson's second day giving evidence in the fraud trial of her former aides, who are accused of abusing cards loaned to them by Miss Lawson and Charles Saatchi

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Nigella Lawson arrives at court for second day

Nigella Lawson arrives at Isleworth Crown Court in west London for a second day to give evidence in the fraud trial of her two former personal assistants 10:38AM GMT 05 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson has arrived at court for a second day to finish giving evidence in the trial of two of her former personal assistants, Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo.

As she got out of her vehicle at Isleworth Crown Court in west London, she was met by photographers, broadcasters and reporters.

Yesterday the TV cook admitted using cocaine and spoke of the "intimate terrorism" she suffered at the hands of former husband Charles Saatchi.

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Nigella Lawson denies Charles Saatchi was wiping cocaine off nose during Scott's row, court hears

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

11:30AM GMT 05 Dec 2013

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Nigella Lawson has denied that her ex-husband Charles Saatchi was wiping cocaine off her nose when a row in a restaurant that led to their divorce.

Miss Lawson, giving evidence for a second day in the fraud trial of two former aides, said Mr Saatchi was guilty of "peddling" lies about the reason for the June bust-up in Scott's in Mayfair.

She also denied a suggestion that she had "lied" to police about her drug use, or that her admission in court yesterday to using cocaine and cannabis amounted to "damage limitation".

Karin Arden, defending Francesca Grillo, who with her sister Elisabetta is accused of fraudulently spending £685,000 on a company credit card, asked Miss Lawson why her admission to taking drugs had not appeared on a police statement she gave when she said she no longer wanted to give evidence.

She had said in the statement that she did not want to give evidence because Mr Saatchi was spreading "false" claims about drug-taking, and Miss Arden said: "You were not frank with police officers. You told a lie because it's not correct to say stories about drugs were untrue."

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Miss Lawson said: "It was true in that what my ex-husband had been saying was he was getting cocaine out of my nose at Scott's and I had been completely off my head for 10 years."

Mimicking the motion of Mr Saatchi pinching her nose, she said: "He went like this. It was not only because I hadn't taken cocaine but it was also the case that Mr Saatchi was not examining me for cocaine. That was a story that he made up afterwards because I would not go back and clear his name."

Miss Arden wanted to show the jury a photograph of the incident but was prevented by the judge from doing so.

Miss Arden suggested that Miss Lawson had "used" the case "as a vehicle" to settle scores with Mr Saatchi in front of the world's press.

She replied: "I didn't want to come to court, I would prefer not to because I had been menaced...I prefer to keep my private life private and I was prevented from doing that."

She added: "I'm not proud of the fact that I have taken drugs but that does not make me a drug addict or habitual drug user."

Miss Arden said: "The simple fact is that yesterday in cross-examination only was the first time that you have publicly said that you have taken cocaine and cannabis, and I suggest that on your part was a case of damage limitation."

Miss Lawson said: "I was asked a question and I responded...I have been frank, I have said what I needed to say and I would rather be honest, if ashamed, and explain about the drug usage but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be bullied and have lies told about an incident that took place in a very humiliating public place."

Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo deny fraud. The case continues.

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Nigella Lawson: I only had dinner parties every two years

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

12:31PM GMT 05 Dec 2013

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He may have been married to a Domestic Goddess, but Charles Saatchi hardly ever allowed Nigella Lawson to throw dinner parties, a court has heard.

Miss Lawson told a jury she only held dinner parties once every two years, because: "Mr Saatchi likes to take people out to Scott's restaurant."

Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

Details of life in the Saatchi-Lawson household were given to the jury in the trial of two former aides to the TV cook who deny fraudulently spending £685,000 on company credit cards.

Karin Arden, defending Francesca Grillo, a housekeeper, suggested that her client was allowed to buy herself treats using the credit card as a reward for working long hours, which including clearing up after dinner parties.

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Miss Lawson said: "I would say I had dinner parties once on a two-year basis at Eaton Square (the marital home in west London). I was not happy about that.

"I can hardly remember a dinner party at Eaton Square. Mr Saatchi likes to take people out to Scott's restaurant."

It was following a row at Scott's, when Mr Saatchi was photographed grabbing his wife by the throat, that the couple split up and later divorced.

Miss Lawson told the jury that Mr Saatchi was very particular about the way his house was kept, objecting strongly to the suggestion that being in charge of housekeeping was "the job of a woman".

She said: "It was Mr Saatchi's job and my job. He would go round and point at marks he wanted removed. He is a person with a tremendous eye for detail."

Mr Saatchi was also particular about his food. While the weekly shopping would be ordered from Waitrose and delivered by Ocado, Miss Grillo was "very involved in the purchasing of Mr Saatchi's eggs" and would also be sent out for his Frappucino coffees.

She said Francesca and her sister and co-defendant Elisabetta would, like other aides, order food for the house.

"We would have the Ocado order up and people would shout out 'we need this, we need that'. I would say (to the Grillos) 'do you want ravioli as a treat' in the same way that I would buy the others something."

Miss Lawson also liked to treat her staff to days out and gifts, including an outing to Brussels with all of her aides to shop in a Christmas market.

Asked about her aides' other duties, she said: "I'm afraid to say I make them appear on my television programmes. When I'm testing a recipe they write it down."

They did not, however, look after her Twitter account. "I do my own Twitter account," she said.

She also said she was "quite happy to do the washing up" but Mr Saatchi "didn't want me washing up" so he would phone Miss Grillo and ask her to do it.

The Grillo sisters were treated "like family" and took Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi's children from their previous marriages on up to five foreign holidays per year, to locations including New York, San Tropez and Italy.

Miss Arden suggested Miss Lawson had a "penchant for all things Italian" and she replied: "I do, and I don't see how that could ever be interpreted by anyone as a criticism."

She admitted to phoning Miss Grillo when the aide was on holiday in Spain to ask her if she knew where the TV remote control was.

"That would have made Mr Saatchi incredibly irritable," she said. "I have made a lot of similar phone calls over the years."

The court also heard that the couple had a 12ft x 12ft "silver room" full of tea and coffee services and candlesticks.

Miss Lawson said she was "very glad to see that back of it" when the couple moved, and asked if she ever cleaned it said: "I like cleaning silver and I like cleaning shoes. It's a wonderful task, I find it very therapeutic."

Asked if Miss Grillo was allowed to withdraw up to £800 per month cash on the credit card to pay a specialist silver cleaning firm, she said: "Francesca had a great job as a cleaner who could employ other cleaners," but doubted that the couple spent up to £9,600 per year hiring people to do something that "a bit of Duraglit" would sort out.

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Nigella Lawson tells court: 'I would never make my children orphans through drug addiction'

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

4:30PM GMT 05 Dec 2013

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Nigella Lawson has told a court she would never risk making her children "orphans" by becoming addicted to cocaine or other drugs.

She also denied she kept a stash of cocaine in a box with her late husband's wedding ring as she ended two days of evidence in the fraud trial of two former aides.

Miss Lawson told a jury her ex-husband Charles Saatchi knew she had taken cocaine with her first husband John Diamond during his battle with terminal cancer, and she had never promised him that she would not take drugs again.

On an afternoon when defence barristers repeatedly clashed with Miss Lawson as well as the judge in the case, Miss Lawson was told not to answer whether her children had given her a Mother's Day card with a cannabis "spliff" taped to the front.

Miss Lawson became increasingly emotional and told defence barrister Karin Arden: "If you want to put me on trial, put me on trial, but I cannot think that it's right to have me here as a witness for the Crown and treat me like this."

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Miss Arden suggested to Miss Lawson that her drug use was a "dark, guilty secret" in her marriage.

She replied: "In respect of the cocaine use when my first husband died, Mr Saatchi knew about it." Asked if she made him a promise that "that was the end of it", she replied: "No, I did not make a promise. Mr Saatchi has phoned up newspapers saying a promise had been extracted and broken, it's not true."

The court heard that Miss Lawson had a jewellery box in the shape of a hollowed out book, in which she kept jewellery inherited from her grandmothers and mother and E wedding rings worn by her and Mr Diamond.

Miss Arden said she also kept cocaine in the box, which had at one point been found by her daughter. She said: "I did not."

She also denied that she frequently had a "runny nose" or whites powder around her nose, and that cannabis dealers turned up at her house to sell her drugs.

She said: "I promise you if I took the drugs to the extent you say I would not be standing here today.

"You know as well as I do that regular cocaine users don't look like this, they're scrawny. If you think I'm going to sabotage my health and run the risk of leaving my children orphans you are very wrong."

Miss Arden asked: "Do you agree that you received a Mother's Day card in 2011 or 2012 with a spliff taped to the card saying 'To enjoy later'?"

Judge Robin Johnson stepped in and told Miss Arden: "That ends your cross-examination. I'm not having any more. You have exhausted my patience."

He told Miss Lawson not to answer the question.

Earlier, Miss Lawson rejected the suggestion that she allowed a former aide to "spend, spend, spend" on a company credit card when she and Charles Saatchi sold their home for £25 million.

Francesca Grillo is accused of fraudulently spending £580,000 on the credit card, which Miss Lawson described as "disgusting, greedy".

She said it was "totally implausible" that she would allow Miss Grillo to spend as much on clothes for a "treat" in one transaction as some people spend on a car.

Karin Arden, defending Miss Grillo, who denies fraud, suggested to Miss Lawson that she loosened the family purse strings when she and Mr Saatchi put their home in Eaton Square, west London, on the market for £37m.

Miss Arden suggested that Miss Lawson had allowed Miss Grillo to spend £5,205 on a jacket and dresses in Miu Miu as a reward for all her hard work keeping the house clean for prospective buyers to see it.

"You told her to buy them on the credit card because she deserved it," Miss Arden suggested.

"Five thousand pounds?! Why on earth would I do that?" Miss Lawson replied. "There are cars that cost that much money."

Miss Arden said: "You were trying to sell the house for £37m, it was giddy money and you told her to treat herself."

Miss Lawson, who said she had not personally profited from the eventual £25m sale of Mr Saatchi's house, rejected this.

Miss Lawson has now finished giving evidence, having spent almost two full days in the witness box.

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View the Original article

Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

Follow Nigella Lawson's second day giving evidence in the fraud trial of her former aides, who are accused of abusing cards loaned to them by Miss Lawson and Charles Saatchi

View the Original article

Nigella Lawson: 'I would never risk orphaning my children with drugs'

Witness: Nigella Lawson leaves Isleworth Crown Court after her second and final day of giving evidence at the trial of her former aides Photo: GETTY IMAGES

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Nigella Lawson court appearance live updates

Follow the trial of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi's former aides, who are accused of fraud as the celebrity chef gives evidence By Gordon Rayner, Claire Carter and Theo Merz

12:50PM GMT 04 Dec 2013

900002013-12-04 15:45:43.0http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10493550/Nigella-appears-in-court-live.html?service

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