After first insisting that it was just play-acting, art tycoon Charles Saatchi has admitted to and accepted caution for an assault on his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.
Saatchi accepted the caution for assault last night after a five-hour grilling by the police, The Mirror reports.
The art tycoon first insisted he did not hurt Lawson, despite photographs showing her looking distressed as he had his hands around her neck.
The snapshots of the 70-year-old with his hands around his 53-year-old wife’s neck were published in The Sunday People at the weekend.
A Met spokesman said: “Officers from the Community Safety Unit at Westminster were aware of the Sunday People article which was published on 16 June and carried out an investigation.
“This afternoon a 70-year-old man voluntarily attended a Central London police station and accepted a caution for assault.”
The cover of the weekend’s Sunday People.
Before Saatchi arrived at the station yesterday, he said: “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. 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. 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.”
Nigella left the family home with 17-year-old son Bruno and a suitcase on Sunday but Saatchi now insists his relationship with his wife will continue as normal.
The photographer involved, although criticised for snapping the scene rather than helping, spoke out for the first time yesterday.
Wishing to remain unnamed, he said, “The pair did not know they were being photographed. I was completely hidden.
“It wasn’t a game, from what I saw, it was more… if that was a game it was a pretty rough game.
“I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The conversation and action became so worrying for the couple sitting next to them that the woman put her hands over her mouth in shock.”
