The torment of Nigella: Police probe after TV chef's husband Charles Saatchi 'attacks' her in favourite Mayfair restaurant

Even for a couple whose relationship is said to be volatile, the pictures are shocking.
Sat at their favourite Mayfair restaurant, Charles Saatchi repeatedly grabs his wife Nigella Lawson by the neck.
At one point, the TV cook seems to plead with her 70-year-old husband as he holds her throat and her eyes widen. Later she was pictured leaving the restaurant in tears.

Shocking pictures: Sat at their favourite Mayfair restaurant, Charles Saatchi repeatedly grabs his wife Nigella Lawson by the neck

Mr Saatchi is almost certain to be questioned by detectives within weeks

Ms Lawson looked distressed as her husband of ten years grabs her by the neck in Mayfair

Yesterday, the pair declined to comment after they left their converted brewery home separately by taxis. However, police revealed that they were likely to question them about the incident.
The Metropolitan Police said that although no official complaint had been made by Miss Lawson, officers were ‘aware’ of the pictures and ‘inquiries are in hand to establish the facts of the incident’.
This means Mr Saatchi is almost certain to be questioned by detectives within weeks about exactly what took place in the restaurant.
The couple, who are thought to be worth £128million, had just finished eating outdoors at their favourite seafood restaurant Scott’s last Sunday when Mr Saatchi is reported to have started a heated and angry exchange with his wife.
Miss Lawson, 53, looked tearful as he grabbed her neck four times, first with his left hand and then both.
As he held her neck, they clutched hands across the table before Mr Saatchi tweaked her nose and used both wrists to push her face.

The couple were seen outside Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, London. The Metropolitan Police said that although no official complaint had been made by Miss Lawson, officers were 'aware' of the pictures

Other diners watched as the couple appear to have a heated exchange at their table

Afterwards, Miss Lawson dabbed her tearful eyes in a napkin as he tapped his cigarettes impatiently upon the table.
She then gulped a whole glass of wine before appearing to attempt to pacify him with a trembling voice. During the attempted reconciliation, she leaned over the table and kissed his right cheek.
Mr Saatchi, who helped mastermind former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s election campaigns, then marched off from the table before his wife followed while wiping away her tears.

'It was utterly shocking to watch. I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really'

Witness

The apparent assault is said to have put huge strain on their ten-year marriage, his third and her second.
A witness was quoted in a Sunday newspaper as saying: ‘It was utterly shocking to watch.
‘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.
‘She had a real look of fear on her face. And yet she kissed him. She appeared to be a woman who loves him but was clearly unable to stop him being abusive, frightening and disrespectful to her.’

The 70-year-old art tycoon tweaked his 53-year-old wife's nose as they sat at the table facing each other

During an attempt to reconcile, Ms Lawson leaned over the table and kissed her husband's right cheek

Neighbours of the couple also spoke of their ‘volatile’ relationship. One said they had previously heard the pair having a bitter argument loudly in the street.
But the neighbours dismissed talks of a split saying they had been spotted walking happily hand-in-hand during the weekend.
One said: ‘They’re both characters and if they did this I’m sure they made up straight away as I’ve seen them together looking happily recently.

‘They argue in the streets and are volatile at times but that could just be their form of passion. Those pictures do look unpleasant though.'

A tearful Nigella dabbed her eyes with a napkin as both she and her husband appear upset

Miss Lawson wiped her eyes as her husband tapped his cigarettes against the table. It is not the first time the couple have been seen arguing publicly

Mr Saatchi rested his head in his hand while his wife appeared to be emotional and leaned in to talk to him

Nigella Lawson looked tearful as her husband left the table they were sitting at and walked away

Despite the row, Miss Lawson appears to have given no indication about the incident, or that there is any trouble in her personal life, after tweeting about recipes and telling her followers about restaurants that she has visited.
She also tweeted that she was celebrating the end of her children's exams in school, by making them a lasagne and brownies.
It is not the first time the couple have been seen arguing publicly, but the first that has apparently involved him manhandling her.
Miss Lawson has recently spent a lot of time travelling across the US promoting her new book and successful television series.
The couple live in a £12million former 18th century brewery and gas engineer works that they have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds converting since they bought the seven-bedroom home in 2010.

After the pair had finished their meal, a sad-looking Nigella walked away from her husband with her eyes cast to the floor

'Look of fear': Miss Lawson looks emotional and wipes away tears after the incident in central London

Both have refused to answer questions about the incident but they were photographed together at the same restaurant on Saturday

Miss Lawson has two children, Cosima, 19, and Bruno, 17, with her husband John Diamond, who she met while they worked at The Sunday Times.
She moved in with Mr Saatchi, who was a friend of her first husband, nine months after he died of throat cancer aged 41 and shortly after her debut cooking television show Nigella Bites aired.
Bruno yesterday helped his mother into a black taxi before Mr Saatchi left in another cab shortly afterwards.

Both refused to answer questions about the incident but they were photographed together at the same restaurant on Saturday.

Yesterday morning Ms Lawson and her son Bruno were seen leaving his Chelsea flat, and refused to comment on the pictures

Yesterday Ms Lawson climbed inside a taxi with her son Bruno, before Mr Saatchi left in another cab shortly afterwards

In a recent interview, Miss Lawson revealed that she was physically abused by her mother when she was a child.
A violent and depressive woman, Vanessa Salmon – who married former Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson, would lash out at her and her brother, former Sunday Telegraph editor Dominic, when they made too much noise, she claimed.
She said her mother's actions meant that she never cries, and refuses to weep even as an adult.
She is convinced that she in particular would face her mother's wrath because she 'just didn’t like me'.
Miss Lawson, who was one of four children, told FT Weekend in November: ‘I never thought I could please her.

In December the couple were seen again at Scott's, where Mr Saatchi was seen clapping his hand over his wife's mouth

'She was funny but depressed and so sensitive to noise. The sound of a plastic bag being crinkled would send her deranged. She’d shout at all of us and say, "I'm going to hit you till you cry", and so I never would cry. I still don't.

'It wasn’t a calculated thing; it was hot-blooded hitting, a thrashing out of things. Once she had to stop hitting Dominic [Nigella’s brother] as she hurt her hand.

'She just didn’t like me; maybe because I came after Dominic the princeling and I was my father’s girl she was jealous, I don’t know.

'I would say I’m sorry for whatever it was, some mess, and she’d say, "Why do you think being inconsiderate is an excuse?"'
Domestic violence is a top priority crime in the capital, and senior officers will want to investigate even without a complaint from the victim.
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘Officers are aware. Inquiries are in hand to establish the facts of the incident.’
A Scott’s spokesman said: ‘The staff at Scott’s are aware of the allegations in the media today but did not see anything untoward happen within the restaurant. As this is now a police matter we cannot comment further.’
Neither representatives for Miss Lawson or Mr Saatchi were available for comment this morning when contacted by the Mail Online