Jewish art collector Charles Saatchi has accepted an official police caution for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after paparazzi photographs showed him grabbing Lawson by the throat at a London dinner table last week as she looked on in obvious terror, apparently begging him to stop.
Written by Chris White
Scotland Yard confirmed to reporters that yesterday a 70-year-old man, “voluntarily attended a Central London police station and accepted a caution for assault”.
In a statement Scotland Yard said: “Officers from the community safety unit at Westminster were aware of the Sunday People article which was published on Sunday 16 June and carried out an investigation.”
Saachi (70), an Iraqi Jew born to a wealthy Jewish textile family in Bagdad, attempted to spin the incident as a “playful tiff” but Ms. Lawson (53), has so far not commented. – In yesterday’s issue of The Evening Standard Saatchi explained in an interview: “About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children and I held Nigella’s neck repeatedly, while attempting to emphasise my point. There was no grip, it was a playful tiff.
Nigella’s tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt.
We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled.”
Saatchi and Lawson, the daughter of former prominent Tory MP Nigel Lawson have been married since 2003 however, Lawson has chosen to keep her maiden name.
Lawson has two children by her dead husband John Diamond who died in 2001, Cosmina and Bruno. A spokesman for Lawson has confirmed that Ms. Lawson has left the family home with her two children, but refused to confirm whether or not the move was temporary.
DailySun Reader Tips: Businesses using old antiquated technology are finding themselves on a losing battle with up and coming solutions. Take a look here at cc merchant and their new cloud based technology and see how they can grow your business.
