Nigella Lawson Alleged Drug Use Under Investigation

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is under investigation by London police for her alleged drug use.

During a trial against two of her former personal assistants earlier this month, Lawson admitted under oath that she occasionally smoked marijuana toward the end of her 10-year marriage to Charles Saatchi, and that she had taken cocaine in the past. She denied that she abused drugs on a regular basis.

The London Metropolitan Police said in a statement that a special team will “examine all the evidence emerging as part of a review into this matter and in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service will determine an appropriate way forward.”

Police added that Lawson’s testimony has not been cause enough to file charges, but that the information will be reviewed again in the new investigation.

“The senior investigating officer received legal advice that the witness’s admissions did not by themselves provide sufficient evidence to bring charges,” the statement read. “On that basis therefore, and in absence of any other corroboration, there is no imminent prospect of a prosecution being mounted.”

A London jury acquitted sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo of defrauding Nigella Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi earlier this week. The sisters were accused of defrauding the couple of £685,000 ($1.12 million) spent on designer clothes, handbags, and expensive trips. The sisters said that their lavish spending was part of an agreement to keep quiet about Lawson’s drug use.

Lawson said she was “disappointed but unsurprised” that the Grillo sisters were acquitted, and claimed that they were trying to ruin her reputation.

“Over the three week trial, the jury was faced with a ridiculous sideshow of false allegations about drug use which made focus on the actual criminal trial impossible,” Lawson said in a statement.

Last month, Charles Saatchi accused his ex-wife of being addicted to cocaine and marijuana throughout their marriage. He also accused her of poisoning her daughter. Saatchi said that Lawson was so “off her head” on drugs that Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo were able to go on shopping sprees with her credit card.

[Photo credit: Phil Guest / Flickr]