Nigella took drugs so she could stay up all night to write cookbooks, says aide as she tells court how chef swigged painkillers and claimed white powder on nose was make-up

• Francesca Grillo says she saw evidence every day of Nigella taking drugs
• Nigella would swig from bottles containing liquid Xanax, court told
• TV chef ‘often had a runny nose – even during the summer’
• The couple let their children miss school to go on foreign holidays
• Nigella ‘kept a tube of English mustard in her handbag at all times’
• Aide says 'photo of Saatchi tweaking Nigella’s nose related to drugs'
  
• Child found a hollowed out book containing 'drugs', aide tells jury
• Francesca tells court she had 'no more than 10 pairs' of designer sunglasses
• Asked if she owned more than 10 handbags, she replied: 'Yes. Don't you?'
• Saatchi told sisters 'you can f****** hide anywhere in Italy but I will find you and destroy you', jury is told
• Francesca and her sister Elisabetta both deny a single count of fraud
  

By Neil Sears and Rob Cooper

PUBLISHED: 06:24 EST, 17 December 2013 | UPDATED: 06:19 EST, 18 December 2013

Nigella Lawson used cocaine to fuel all-night sessions working on her cookery books, a court heard yesterday.

Francesca Grillo, Miss Lawson’s former housekeeper, claimed the TV chef could work for such long hours only with the aid of drugs that left her ‘absent and grumpy’.

Miss Grillo, 35, also told the jury that Miss Lawson would swig straight from a bottle of anti-depressants so powerful they were deemed Class A drugs, and kept them strategically placed throughout the house.

Accused: Elisabetta Grillo (left) and Francesca Grillo (right) with a member of their legal team (centre) arriving at court

Asked by her barrister, Karina Arden, how frequently she would see Miss Lawson take medication in this way, Miss Grillo said: ‘Very often. She had one bottle in the kitchen and one bottle in the bedroom.

Miss Arden then asked: ‘When she had the liquid one, did you see her taking that?’ She replied: ‘Yes from the bottle.’

WHY DOES NIGELLA 'KEEP A TUBE OF MUSTARD IN HER HANDBAG?'

Nigella Lawson always carried a tube of English mustard in her handbag, the court was told.

The television chef’s former housekeeper Francesca Grillo made the bizarre claim yesterday as she told how she would have to search through her boss’s bag every few days.

According to Miss Grillo – who denies stealing from Miss Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi – the cook was so forgetful that she repeatedly lost track of her possessions as she switched between handbags.

Explaining that transferring items from one bag to another was one of her key tasks, Miss Grillo said: ‘She used to forget things in one bag, mislay them, and ask me to find them.
‘It could be her keys, her phone, or her mustard.’

Asked to clarify the remark by her barrister, Karina Arden, Miss Grillo went on: ‘She likes to carry a tube of English mustard. I know it sounds weird, but that’s what it is.’

Miss Grillo also claimed that she had found rolled-up banknotes on several occasions in her boss’s bag.

She said that she would ‘usually’ find ‘rolled banknotes’ when Miss Lawson lived in Shepherd’s Bush, adding: ‘Once in the kitchen after a party and another time in the guest bathroom with white powder on it.’

Asked if this was directly from the bottle she added: ‘Yes, a gulp.’

And Miss Grillo also claimed Miss Lawson’s teenage daughter Cosima ‘Mimi’ Diamond, 19, once found her mother’s hidden cocaine stash.

Miss Grillo, who denies defrauding Miss Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi of £580,000, is charged along with her sister and fellow housekeeper Lisa Grillo, 41, who also denies the charges against her.

The pair are accused of using her family credit card and Saatchi taxi account to blow a fortune totalling almost £700,000 in just four years.

However, they claim Miss Lawson allowed them to spend what they liked in return for keeping quiet about her drug use.

Miss Lawson has admitted snorting cocaine on seven occasions, and smoking cannabis for a year, but denies being addicted to drugs or authorising huge spending.

Yesterday the younger Miss Grillo completed her second day in the witness box at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, where she was questioned by her barrister Miss Arden about Miss Lawson’s drug use.

Miss Lawson needed cocaine to allow to keep writing all night, it was suggested, but suffered side-effects which included mood swings.

Miss Grillo said: ‘When she was writing a book – her latest book – she said she need to work through the night because she was so busy, and I think she needed help to stay up all night. Then she had a running nose for a long, long period of time – quite strange in summer times.

‘And then she would go from kind and very nice to a bit absent and grumpy.  She’d been always a quite warm caring person but in the last few years she started to be quite grumpy and nasty, blaming the fact she couldn’t sleep or that the children weren’t turning out as she’d like them to be.’

Miss Grillo added that she regularly saw lumps of cocaine stuck inside Miss Lawson’s nostrils.

She said: ‘At the beginning of 2012 there were a few episodes where she came downstairs and she had white powder inside her nostrils.

‘A few times I just ignore it, but one time I said “Nigella, you have something inside your nose”. She just brushed it off and said it was make up. But it was too white to be make-up.’

'Nose incident': Nigella Lawson's former PA Francesca Grillo told a jury that the thing that stuck in her mind was Charles Saatchi 'picking her nose'. Francesca added: 'Maybe he found something relating to drugs'

However, she conceded she had never seen Miss Lawson taking cocaine.

Drug claims: Nigella Lawson's former aide told the court she would regularly see white powder on the TV cook's nose

Miss Grillo also said that on one occasion when the family lived in Mr Saatchi’s £27million Belgravia flat, Miss Lawson’s daughter stumbled across a bag of cocaine in a security box disguised as a book.

Miss Grillo said: ‘Mimi found the book with a friend of hers, and she was shouting, calling us to go in the study and see it... I made up something, trying to minimise it.’

Miss Grillo said she and her sister belatedly added the drug allegations to their defence after seeing the pictures of Mr Saatchi grabbing Miss Lawson by the throat and probing her nose outside Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair.

Miss Grillo said: ‘It’s a difficult subject to bring up when you love someone, so we tried to protect her.

'But in June of this year some pictures appeared in the paper of her crying, which shocked me because she’s someone who said she doesn’t cry often.

‘And the picture that stuck in my mind was Charles picking her nose.

'I thought maybe he had the same problem I had and found some remains of drugs inside her nose.’

Miss Grillo said she also found cannabis in the family home and other remnants of joints being smoked, particularly after dinner parties.

Miss Grillo was accused of playing down her designer clothes collection, allegedly bought fraudulently on the family credit card.

But she did say she had ‘probably ten’ Miu Miu dresses, which cost up to £800 a piece, along with ‘only one’ Dolce and Gabbana dress, and ‘a secondhand’ Givenchy dress.

The case continues.

Fraud charge: Elisabetta Grillo (left) and her sister Francesca who are accused of spending £685,000 on Charles Saatchi's company credit cards

'You can f****** hide anywhere in Italy but I will find you and destroy you': Aide tells of Saatchi's 'personal vendetta' and threats against her and her sister

• Mr Saatchi had a 'personal vendetta' against me, claims Italian sister
• Millionaire was banging on the table and saying 'I would end up in handcuffs', Francesca Grillo tells the court
• Sisters spent three hours locked in a cell after being arrested, court hears
• Finance director had told them to sign letters admitting dishonesty and promising to keep working for Mr Saatchi to pay off their debts
• But Francesca and Elisabetta refused and police were later called
  

Charles Saatchi told a personal assistant accused of defrauding him and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson that he would 'destroy' her, a court has heard.

Francesca Grillo said Mr Saatchi had a 'personal vendetta' against her and her sister Elisabetta, who also faces a charge of fraud.

The sisters are alleged to have spent £685,000 on credit cards belonging to the celebrity couple, who were divorced earlier this year.

'I will destroy you': Charles Saatchi told Francesca Grillo he would 'hunt her down', she claimed as she gave evidence to the jury yesterday. He is pictured here at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London, on Monday

Night out: Charles Saatchi and Trinny Woodall are seen eating at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London, on Monday night

Francesca, 35, said that Mr Saatchi asked to see her at his home in July after his financial director Rahul Gajjar confronted her and Elisabetta, 41, with credit card statements.

The court heard Mr Gajjar had asked the sisters to sign a letter the previous day, admitting dishonesty and promising to continue working for Mr Saatchi and Miss Lawson for a reduced salary for an unlimited period of time.

The Grillos had not signed the letter and asked for a copy of it while they considered their options, the jury heard.

After she took a taxi to Mr Saatchi's house, Francesca said he told her she was 'stupid' and asked her: 'Why didn't you listen to Rahul?'

She said she was accused by her then-boss of buying a house in Italy on the credit card, which she denied.

Francesca, who is Italian, told the court: 'He was banging on the table... He said I would end up in handcuffs.'

She said the situation became 'quite scary' as Mr Saatchi told her: 'You can f****** hide anywhere in Italy but I'll find you and destroy you'.

Confrontation: Charles Saatchi's accountant Rahul Gajjar who first questioned the Grillo sisters about their credit card spending

She added: 'He said he was going to destroy me and hunt me down. That was his words.

'His voice was shouting and he was banging on the table and accusing me of various things that were not true.

'The more he got upset, the more I got frightened. You don't cross Charles Saatchi, everyone knows that.'

Grillo said being accused of dishonesty left her feeling upset.

'I felt betrayed because I had been honest all throughout my employment,' she said. 'I had been honest about my expenditure so I didn't know where that was coming from.

'I don't get upset easily, but that upset me, and even until today.'

Specifying what had upset her, she added: 'The way he accused me, the things he said about me and the fact he went on a personal vendetta.'

Francesca and her sister spent three hours locked in a cell after their eventual arrest, she told the jury.

'I felt let down by many people and the situation itself,' she said. 'I couldn't believe the people I cherished and loved put me in this situation. I still can't believe it.'

The Grillos wrote a letter to Miss Lawson saying they were 'reaching out' to her and asking for forgiveness, the jury was told.

'We never meant to be seen to be disloyal or seen like we took advantage of our positions,' the court heard they had written.

She said the letter was not admitting 'abuse of position', rather it was saying 'sorry for losing your love and affection'.

Francesca explained she wanted things to go back to normal, 'if they thought we were disloyal and we didn't follow some rules they gave us'.

She previously told the court she had been given a company credit card and was allowed to use it to buy items for herself, with the authorisation of her employees.

In the letter, the sisters said Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi were their 'English family', adding: 'We saw you like mother and father figures.'

She told the court, with emotion making her voice crack: 'They were my family.'

Grillo left in tears, telling Judge Robin Johnson she needed five minutes to compose herself before she could continue giving evidence.

The Grillos, of Bayswater, west London, each deny a single count of committing fraud by using a company credit card for personal gain between January 1 2008 and December 31 last year.

Dresses from Dolce and Gabbana, Miu Miu and Chanel and shoes from Chanel and Christian Louboutin: Aide admits to a wardrobe of designer clothes – but denies buying diet pills

• Aide says couple's children were allowed to miss school to go on holiday
  
• Francesca Grillo tells jury she spent £637 at Louis Vuitton in Florida on a present for Mr Saatchi's daughter's friend's mother
• Her designer clothes were seized by Mr Saatchi's lawyers last year
• She tells court she owned 'probably ten' dresses from Miu Miu
  

Francesca Grillo admitted owning posh outfits from a string of designers including Miu Miu, Christian Dior and Christian Louboutin.

But she denied using her company credit card to deny fat-burning diet pills.

Francesca, who earned £28,000 a year as a PA, admitted she had 'probably ten' dresses from the Japanese designer Miu Miu. The dresses can cost several thousand pounds each.

But she refused to give a full breakdown of all the designer clothes she had - and said she 'couldn't remember'.

Designer clothes: Francesca Grillo (right), pictured here with her sister Elisabetta, told the jury she owned clothes from Miu Miu, Christian Dior and Christian Louboutin. However, Mr Saatchi's lawyers now have them

She also admitted to having a dress from Dolce and Gabbana, designer jackets from Miu Miu and Chanel and shoes from Chanel and Christian Louboutin.

Addressing Francesca, Ms Carpenter, prosecuting said: 'I'm suggesting that you had a large wardrobe because you spend so much money on personal items.'

But speaking in a bullish tone, Francesca rebuffed 'I suggest that you are wrong'.

Quizzed over how many other designer clothes she had, Francesca said she couldn't remember because it had been seized by Mr Saatchi's lawyers when her assets were frozen last year.

She said: 'I haven't seen my clothes since 2012, all my stuff is with Mr Saatchi's lawyers.'

She also said her Conarco card was used to pay for diet pills in California - but she insisted she wasn't there at the time.

Asked who the pills were for, the slender former PA said: 'I don't think they were for me.'

The court heard of foreign trips to America and Europe, including one five-day holiday in New York in early December 2009, which Grillo said was with the children.

When it was pointed out the holiday fell during what is normally considered term time for most children, Grillo replied: 'I don't really think they (Mr Saatchi and Miss Lawson) follow strict rules on school holidays.'

Asked if Grillo was suggesting the couple allowed their children to miss school for this reason, the defendant replied: 'Yes, I suggest so.'

Grillo told jurors that her second trip to New York a month later was with Saatchi's daughter Phoebe and her friend Scarlett where she spent over £300 on underwear from Victoria's Secret.

But she told the court that these trips would be with Nigella's children and were authorised.

Nigella and Mr Saatchi even let their children go on trips abroad during school term time, Francesca claimed. She said the purchases were either for Nigella and Mr Saatchi's three children.

She even spent £637 at Louis Vuitton in Florida for a present for the mother of one of Phoebe's friends.

Defence: Karina Arden who is Francesca Grillo's defence barrister

Asked if this was a lot of cash to spend on the mother of one of Pheobe's friend's mothers, she said 'it was never an issue, I did whatever the children asked me to do.'

After it was suggested that most of her trips away were by myself, Grillo grew visibly annoyed and sarcastically replied: 'I'm a lonely person, I go away on my own? No'.

Ms Carpenter said that a number of Francesca's trips were not on the list of authorised holidays provided by Anzelle Wasserman, a member of Lawson's Team Cupcake.

But Grillo replied: 'If you want to refer to Anzelle's list that is fine by me but you can't take that as the Holy Gospel'.

She claimed that Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi's three children could have spent some of the pocket money she gave them on drugs.

She said she handed them up to £400 a week to eat out and pay for travel.

Ms Carpenter accused Francesca of exaggerating how much money she handed out in a bid to explain the large amounts of cash she took out on the card.

And she said Nigella claimed to pay for their takeaways through a Pay Pal account.

Francesca replied: 'As far as I know I gave them money. Money they could spend on drugs or pizza, I don't know.'

On 13 January 2010 she travelled to Paris. On 27 February her card was again used in Paris and spent over £1,500 at a string of shops including Koople and Marc by Marc.

On 20 March she travelled to Milan and splashed out £323.45 at Miu Miu on a pair of silk kitten heels which she wore to the opening of the Saatchi Gallery.

During a six-day city break in August 2010 she spent £1,700 on flights, £3,348 at Soho House Hotel, £380 at a Louis Vuitton store in Manhattan, and £236 for clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch.

Luxuy: Francesca spent £1,424 at Gansevoort Hotel in New York (left) in June last year, the court heard. She also used the credit card the same month to pay a £1,280 bill at the Ritz hotel in Paris on the day she bought a Chloe dress for £723, it is alleged

Just a few weeks later, on September 4, later she went on a day trip by to Paris, taking 300 euros out at St Pancras and spent £707 at the Chanel shop.

And she had barely touched down in London again before she flew out to New York again on September 23 until 27 that month, again flying out by Virgin Air and staying at Soho House.

She then travelled to Antwerp in Belgium and then went on a trip to Berlin on 16 to 19 November, staying at Soho House spending £2,348.

VOLUPTUOUS TV CHEF AND THE MYSTERIOUS DIET PILLS

Nigella Lawson may have been using diet pills as she fought  to keep her weight under  control, it was suggested in court yesterday.

The suggestion was made as Francesca Grillo was being cross-examined about a purchase she had made with her family credit card – which was funded by Charles Saatchi – in 2009.

Prosecutor Jane Carpenter suggested the mystery purchase from a not immediately identifiable vendor was one of many unauthorised personal purchases Miss Grillo is said to have made.

But slender Miss Grillo, who  is alleged to have routinely dressed in beautiful designer clothes funded by stolen  cash, said: ‘They were fat-burning tablets.’

Gesturing to her own slim waist, she added with a smile: ‘I don’t think they were for me.’

Miss Lawson spoke about her famously voluptuous figure in court, claiming it proved she was not a drug addict.

Miss Grillo did not identify who took the ‘fat-burning’ tablets, but told the court yesterday Miss Lawson regularly asked her to buy things for her.

She then went to Berlin on a birthday trip in November where she blew a further £4,000.

Ms Carpenter said: 'It is ridiculous that Miss Lawson allowed you to spend this amount of money - something like £4,000 for a birthday weekend'.

She replied: 'I appreciate it's an expensive weekend away but it was my birthday and it was authorised," Grillo told the jury.'

Ms Carpenter said Miss Lawson would never have authorised such huge sums being spent by her assistant on herself.

She said: 'It is ridiculous to suggest Miss Lawson was letting you spend in this way. She didn't authorise such expenditure.'

But Grillo replied: 'She was extremely generous, not just generous. I am telling the truth.'

Grillo jetted all over Europe in 2011 between Prague, Milan, Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Ibiza, and Antwerp where she frittered away fortunes on her Conarco card.

The jury heard that Grillo spent £1,100 during one dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant in Paris in June 2011 and then another £3,500 on two hotels in New York just a few months later.

Grillo was also asked about her expensive trips to the supermarket in her native Calabria where she spent £300 on her food shopping.

She replied: 'I always bought food for Nigella and I was always allowed to buy items when I have been told, my family included.

'I had permission for them all'.

Grillo also treated her parents to gifts worth £1,579 which she bought in Calabria - the former personal assistant claims they were presents from Lawson to her parents.

Ms Carpenter put it to Grillo that it was ridiculous to suggest Lawson had authorised her to spend thousands of pounds while she was away, even if the chef was 'very generous'.

'Spending spree': Elisabetta spent thousands of pounds on designer clothes from Calvin Klein at Harrods (left) and Harvey Nichols (right), both in central London

Grillo replied: 'You're absolutely right, she was extremely generous, not just generous'.

The court had earlier heard that Francesca and her sister Elisabetta sent a grovelling email to Nigella and Mr Saatchi in October 2012 begging the couple for forgiveness.

But explaining the letter, Francesca said the pair had apologised because they were desperate to get their relationship with the couple back on track, and not because they had done anything wrong.

She said: 'Sorry to disappoint them, sorry to disappoint ourselves.

'This is not I'm sorry for abusing my position, this is sorry for losing one's love and affection.

'That was trying to build a bridge that had been blown up the day all this started.'

Francesca said she and her sister at first refused to lift the lid on Nigella's drug use, choosing instead to protect the chef they claim they still love.

But they changed their minds after now infamous pictures of Mr Saatchi picking at Nigella's nose appeared in the press.

Accused: Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo who are standing trial accused of fraud. The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict by the end of the week

Asked why she decided to stay silent on the claims, Francesca said: 'Because I still had strong feelings towards the family and Nigella.

'It is a difficult subject to bring up when you love someone. So we tried to protect her.

'Some time in June some photos appeared in the papers of her crying which shocked me because she is somebody who says she doesn't cry often so I thought that it was quite major for her to cry in public.

'There were various pictures, one stuck in my mind because it was of Charles picking her nose and I thought that maybe that was the same problem I had.

'He found some remnants inside her nose relating to drugs, so I thought that if he didn't know that that maybe he didn't know that she was authorising the spending.'

She said her and Lisa had 'dwelled' on the decision to lift the lid on Nigella's drug taking.

Ms Carpenter accused Grillo of abusing her position as a personal assistant, and said she had been 'exaggerating throughout the evidence'.

The prosecutor said: 'You have tried to get this jury to believe Ms Lawson has authorised these payments. You want them to believe what you’re saying.'

But Grillo replied: 'I want them to believe the truth. I have great faith in them.

'If you are innocent, you don’t have to fear.'

Ms Carpenter claimed Grillo wrote to Ms Lawson only to avoid being charged.

But Grillo said that court proceedings 'bring things that perhaps some people don’t want to say'.

'I was trying to protect them, not to be headliners,' she added.

Both sisters deny fraud.

The trial was adjourned until this morning.