Nigella Lawson’s husband has been cautioned by police for assault over a public incident which he describes as a “playful tiff”.
Charles Saatchi was pictured grabbing wife Nigella’s throat during a vicious restaurant bust-up in images published in a London weekend newspaper which the 70-year-old himself describes as “horrific”.
The art tycoon and advertising mogul, who has been married to TV chef Nigella Lawson for almost ten years, has been quizzed for five hours by police after an investigation following the publication of the incriminating pictures, and was issued with a warning.
Earlier, he gave a statement excusing his behaviour brushing of the incident as a “tiff”.
“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,” Saatchi said in a statement.
“There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella’s tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt.”
Saatchi’s explanation doesn’t quite square with accounts from eyewitnesses who told Sunday People the TV star was terrified.
“I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes. Nigella was very, very upset,” an onlooker said.
“She appeared to be a woman who loves him but was clearly unable to stop him being abusive, frightening and disrespectful to her.”
An emotional Nigella was seen leaving her home with a packed suitcase flanked by her teenage son yesterday only hours after the images went public.
Her husband denied she was fleeing, saying they had agreed she would leave “until the dust settled”.
“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 until the dust settled,” he said.
