Lawson/Saatchi Verdict

Fraud - maybe not, but certainly abuse and exploitation. Saatchi has played dirty from the start, and the women around him have all been put on trial. I feel sorry for Nigella - she's had a rough ride and whatever drug use there was appears to have been used as a crutch. She holds down a career and doesn't appear to have a habit. Probably doesn't need to self-medicate now she's cleared her life of that lot.

I think the verdict reflects the distaste many people feel for Saatchi

Seems pretty irrelevant to me, AAAHappyMan - Nigella Lawson is widely known as Nigella - her books, TV programmes etc whereas her ex-husband is best known from his surname. QED

Also interesting - if it were not for Saatchi and Saatchi, Thatcher wouldn't have become 'very famous'!

How interesting that in the messages so far ''she'' is referred to as Nigella, and 'he' as Saatchi.
The use of the surname / family name in such a way is usually reserved for the very famous, e.g Churchill, Thatcher - or convicted criminals, the Wests; Crippin ...

Iam64 If you were in their shoes would you not heed the advice of your defence lawyer and stick to the version of events that you believe to be correct?

The money was a pimple on an elephant's bum to Saatchi. He knew that by taking them to court they would defend themselves by dragging Nigella's reputation in the dirt. He wanted to damage her far more than he wanted to prosecute them.

Team Nigella on here then? Don't mean to be too flippant, as I am with others in feeling that Nigella has been put through the mill. It has felt like she's been on trial. These 2 women may have been acquitted, but they don't come out of it looking good in my view. The refusal to comply with written agreements to repay their overspend, and then to bring in aspects of Nigella's personal life in the way they did doesn't endear them to me. I expect they'll now further exploit Nigella (and the dreadful Saatchi) by writing their life stories, with full detail about the personal lives of the family they were employed by, and it seems treated well by

Nigella, to err is human - just thank the Lord that you are rid of that peevish, nasty control freak.

How can he say that he still loves her when he has put her through all that? He's a wicked hypocrite.

Hmm ...I'm quite surprised on the one hand, but on the other hand, not.

Mostly I agree with merlot.

Also, it comes down to evidence and hard facts, and by the sounds of it, the evidence is that there were no strict guidelines as to how much was reasonable to spend, or how the credit cards could be used. And all that talk (by Nigella too) that they were 'part of the family'. Anyway what a mess. No one has come out of this particularly well.

Nigella hopes make it big in the US of A .
Hope his spitefulness doesn't spoil that.
They can be a sniffy over there , so I have heard !
Good luck to her she is well shut !

Seems the right verdict to me.

I didn't follow the trial in minute detail but from what I gather they had a number of other assistants who were also free-spending on the credit cards, but not to the extent of the Grillos who seem to have got carried away.

They appear not to have hidden the expenditure or try and manipulate the paperwork or forge signatures, so that's why it wasn't fraud, IMO.

It went on for years and was signed-off by the accountant.

No, not to me either.

When the problem was uncovered the Grillos apologised and offered to repay the monies but then baulked at signing documents. They also emailed Nigella and Saatchi and begged to be forgiven None of this seems to indicate innocence to me. The drugs accusations only came to light in the last few weeks before the trial started and smacks of a desperate need to find a defence for the greed and misuse of monies which were not theirs. If what they claim were true and Nigella authorised their profligate spending in order to keep them quiet, then that was blackmail.

I think the Prosecution was inept in this case and also that the Judge let the defence make too much of the problems between Nigella and Saatchi. It seemed that Nigella was on trial rather than the Grillos.

This verdict does not feel right to me at all.

The trial seemed to put Nigella on trial rather than the two ladies however I feel that both Satchi and Nigella were foolish to trust anyone with free access to funds however much they trusted them. I know the ladies were found not guilty but I do think they should not have been so liberal with their employees money.

I'm pleased.

You can't give someone a free rein with a credit card, turn a blind eye because they are reliable employees who fit it with your lifestyle and then yank in the chain because your personal life's gone up the Swanee.

I feel sorry that Nigella has been put through the mill but Saatchi should have left well alone.