Police inquiry into Nigella Lawson cocaine claims

Police are to review TV cook Nigella Lawson’s admission that she took cocaine.

The 53-year-old revealed during the fraud trial of her two former assistants that she took the class A drug with her late husband John Diamond when he found out he had terminal cancer, and in July 2010 when she claimed she was being "subjected to intimate terrorism" by her former husband, Charles Saatchi.

Scotland Yard said on Friday that officers would not look into the issue at this stage, but the force would review the decision if new evidence came to light.

But in a statement released last night, the force revealed that "a specialist team from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) will examine the evidence emerging as part of a review into this matter".

Mr Saatchi claimed in an email that Ms Lawson's drug use meant she allowed their former assistants, Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, to spend what they liked. "Of course now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you (and) Mimi were so off your heads on drugs that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked and, yes, I believe every word they have said."

Scotland Yard’s statement said: “After the MPS’s decision not to investigate at this stage was queried in press reporting, we would like to clarify the position with regard to this witness.

“The senior investigating officer received legal advice that the witness’s admissions did not by themselves provide sufficient evidence to bring charges.

“On that basis therefore, and in absence of any other corroboration, there is no imminent prospect of a prosecution being mounted.

“As we said however, should any evidence come to light that can be investigated further, we will review this decision. A specialist team from the MPS will nevertheless 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.

“As reiterated in the statement, a specialist team from the MPS will examine the evidence emerging as part a review into this matter, in conjunction with the CPS to determine an appropriate way forward.”

Commander Stephen Watson said the evidence heard in the trial at Isleworth Crown Court would have "implications".

He told The Sunday Telegraph: “Part and parcel of that review we will undertake will be to look at all aspects of the testimony that was given in the trial, which is now public knowledge, and will reveal itself in the transcripts of the trial.

“There are implications in terms of what has been said during the course of that trial and all those implications will be taken into account in determining an appropriate way forward.”

Meanwhile Ms Lawson told The Mail on Sunday's Event magazine that she had "toughened up" in the past year.

She added in a statement issued to the newspaper by her publicist Mark Hutchinson: "I will survive this and move forward. I just want to focus on family life and work."

PA