Nigella Lawson tells fraud trial: 'I've taken cocaine twice in my life but the claim that I'm a drug addict is absolutely ridiculous'

TV cook says she has taken cocaine 'two times in my life'One of the times 'was on six occasions' with her late husbandShe also tells court she 'smoked the odd joint' to 'make an intolerable situation tolerable'
5 December 2013

Nigella Lawson has told a court that she had taken cocaine twice in the past but said the idea that she is a "drug addict or habitual user of cocaine is absolutely ridiculous".

The TV cook said she took cocaine with her late husband John Diamond when he found out he had terminal cancer, and in July 2010 when she was being "subjected to intimate terrorism by Mr Saatchi".

She said: "I have never been a drug addict. I've never been a habitual user.

"There are two times in my life when I have used cocaine."

Ms Lawson, 53, went on to say the first was when her late husband Mr Diamond found out his cancer was terminal, and she had it with him on six occasions.

"It gave him some escape," she said.

She said she had responsibility for looking after him and the family and earning a living.

Ms Lawson said she spoke to a doctor at the time.

Speaking about the second time in her life, she said it was when a friend gave the drug to her.

"There was another time I took cocaine. In July 2010 I was having a very very difficult time.

"I felt subjected to intimate terrorism by Mr Saatchi," she said.

Adding that she felt "isolated and in fear of...just unhappy".

"A friend of mine offered me some cocaine. I took it," she said.

Ms Lawson said it "completely spooked" her.

She said: "The idea that I am a drug addict or habitual user of cocaine is absolutely ridiculous."

Ms Lawson said this was her evidence under oath.

She faced dozens of photographers and television crews from around the world as she arrived at Isleworth Crown Court in west London this morning.

Her former PAs, Francesca Grillo and her sister Elisabetta, sometimes referred to as Lisa, are accused of committing fraud by abusing their positions by using a company credit card for personal gain.

Prosecutors claim the Italian sisters lived the "high life", spending the money on designer clothes and handbags from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood.

The pair are accused of using credit cards loaned to them by the TV cook and her ex-husband Mr Saatchi to spend more than £685,000 on themselves, the jury has heard.

Ms Lawson said Mr Saatchi "told everyone" he was taking cocaine out of her nose after he was photographed holding her neck at Scotts restaurant.

She claimed the incident was actually sparked when she commented on a person walking by with a baby.

"I said 'I'm so looking forward to having grandchildren'," Ms Lawson told the court.

"He grabbed me by the throat and said 'I'm the only person you should be concerned with'."

Ms Lawson admitted taking cannabis in the last year of her marriage to Mr Saatchi.

"I have to be honest, I have smoked the odd joint," she said.

"I found it made an intolerable situation tolerable.

"It's a false friend and not a good idea.

"I found the answer was in changing the situation and trying to create a tolerable situation for me and my family.

"I have to say, since freeing myself from a brilliant but brutal man, I'm now totally cannabis, cocaine, any drug-free."

The revelations emerged after the TV cook claimed her ex-husband Charles Saatchi tried to destroy her with claims that she was constantly out of her head on the drug.

In a highly-emotional court appearance in the trial of two assistants accused of fraud, she said that she had been put on trial by the “false allegations” which came after a summer of “bullying and abuse”.

The TV cook said claims of her drug habit had been circulating on the internet and “sent to every media outlet”.

Ms Lawson was giving evidence against former aides accused of defrauding her and Mr Saatchi for £685,000. The couple divorced in July after pictures of Mr Saatchi gripping her throat at Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair were published.

Isleworth crown court has heard of an email in which Mr Saatchi accused her of being “so off your head” on drugs that she had allowed the PAs —Italian sisters Francesca and Elizabetta Grillo — of spending as much as the liked on his company credit card.

Today, dressed all in black, Ms Lawson told the jury she had not wanted to come to court because “to say my relationship with him is not good is nowhere near”.

Her refusal angered her ex-husband and, she said: “If I didn’t go back and clear his name he would destroy me.

“He had already started spreading false allegations of drug use, in particular that awful incident in Scott’s.”

However when Mr Saatchi found out that the Grillo sisters would be claiming in court that Ms Lawson had a drug habit he “menaced her” she said.

“I said, ‘What drug allegations? There are not going to be any.’ These allegations appeared in a PR blog that had been designed to salvage Mr Saatchi’s reputation and savage mine which was circulating on the internet.

“They had been sent to every media outlet and I felt this would be said and I would be put on trial.”

Ms Lawson added: “That’s what happened, I have been put on trial here but I’m glad to answer the allegations here and to the world’s press. It comes after a long summer of bullying and I found it another chapter in that.

“I felt I had to do my civic duty. It has been difficult for me and very difficult for my children but I want to do the right thing.”

Ms Lawson had been called as a witness by the prosecution to give evidence against the Italian sisters accused of a four-year fraud.

Earlier Ms Lawson, 53, was warned by the judge at Isleworth crown court that she did not have to answer questions which might implicate her in criminal activity. Just behind her sat her journalist brother Dominic Lawson nervously tapping his right foot.

Almost immediately Ms Lawson became emotional, describing how one of the defendants, Elizabetta Grillo, had been “a stalwart and helped me through a very difficult time when my first husband (John Diamond) was ill and died”.

“So even though I didn’t need her I would never not employ her,” she said with a quivering voice. She said Elizabetta had come to work as an au pair and nanny about 16 years ago and her sister Francesca Grillo was recruited as a housekeeper by Mr Saatchi in 2001.

Anthony Metzer QC, defending Lisa Grillo, asked Ms Lawson if she agreed that she shared a liberal and bohemian background with her late husband Mr Diamond, who was diagnosed with cancer, she said: "I fear my father might take exception to that."

She had to correct Mr Metzer for saying her team call themselves Team Nigella.

"No, they call themselves Team Cupcake," she said.

Ms Lawson told the court she was "flabbergasted at the extent" of the alleged fraud by the Grillo sisters.

Speaking about Lisa, Ms Lawson said: "It's very difficult when you find out that someone you have loved and trusted could behave that way.

"In my heart of hearts I do not believe Lisa to be a bad person.

"I believe her not to have a very strong moral compass."

She added: "Lisa had been a stalwart and had helped me through a very difficult time when my first husband died.

"She came to me at a very difficult time in my life.

"She was a rock. I would have done anything for her."

Ms Lawson, who referred to her multimillionaire ex-husband as Mr Saatchi when giving evidence, said she once took £7,000 out of her savings to pay for Lisa to have her teeth fixed, giving her "incredible confidence".

She said Lisa left the job at one point and she continued to pay her for three months so she would not get "too anguished" about finding a new job.

She added: "I didn't want her to feel that she had to stay with me."

On Lisa's return, she was "increasingly bitter", Ms Lawson said.

"She broke our heart."

Ms Lawson told the court that while Lisa had become "like a member of the family", she became "bitter" later on.

"She was not at all hardworking towards the end," she said.

"Most of the time she was on Facebook.

"I do not think her bitterness was towards me personally. I think it was towards her life."

Ms Lawson told the court she believed the amount allegedly claimed by the defendants was "a lot higher".

"I was very, very careful not to say something was unauthorised if there was even a flicker of doubt," she said.

Ms Lawson told the court that in life she is "often in the role of counsellor", adding: "And it's a role I gladly take."

She said she is "quite an open person" and speaks her mind.

When asked by Mr Metzer if her PAs were expected to look "presentable", she laughed at the notion, saying: "I'm afraid to say that I often do not look presentable.

"I don't really mind about appearances."

When Mr Metzer asked if she moved into Mr Saatchi's house after, or around the time of, their wedding, Ms Lawson said: "I think it was quite a bit before then. Sorry to shock you."

The court heart that Lisa wanted to move out of the family home, and Mr Metzer put to Ms Lawson: "The reason she wanted to live in private accommodation is because she said she didn't want to live with Mr Saatchi ever again?"

Ms Lawson replied: "Yes."

She also said she had "absolutely no idea" about the limits on the credit cards given to the defendants.

Ms Lawson said she was "incredibly close" to all of her assistants.

"I tend to trust everyone implicitly and often that's not rewarded," she said, adding: "I'm still trusting actually. I refuse to become a bitter untrusting person."

Ms Lawson refuted Mr Metzer's claim that she would use credit cards belonging to Mr Saatchi to pay for exercise classes, manicures and pedicures.

"I paid for them sometimes by cash and sometimes by cheque," she said, adding: "Personal trainers don't take credit cards."

Ms Lawson said: "Charles kept a huge stash above the fridge."

When the judge asked if she meant a "stash of cash", she said she did, adding: "He did like huge wads of cash because he didn't like to use credit cards."

Mr Metzer asked Ms Lawson: "Do you have it in for Lisa now?"

She replied: "No, I so don't."

In relation to whether she bought gifts for Lisa, she said: "She might say 'Look at these shoes in Vogue' and I would say 'You know, darling, let me buy you those shoes'."

But she said it would be a particular gift.

The sisters are accused of squandering £685,000 on holidays, air flights and designer clothing charged to Mr Saatchi’s company credit card. The court has heard that although the card was in the name of Conarco, Mr Saatchi paid the bill through his personal account at Coutts.

It was part of £1.2 million pounds spent in one year alone by Ms Lawson and five personal assistants on the company card.

The sisters claim she let them spend wildly as long as they kept it quiet from her then husband about her allegedly taking cocaine and class B drugs. Giving evidence last week Mr Saatchi told the jury he still loved his ex-wife and had no grounds for believing that she took drugs.

Francesca, 35, and Elizabetta Grillo, 41, both of Bayswater, plead not guilty to fraud between 2008 and 2012.

The case continues.

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