Lawson pair
‘begged for
forgiveness’

TWO sisters accused of spending almost £700,000 on credit cards belonging to Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi wrote to the couple begging for forgiveness, a court has heard.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Dec 2013, 00:01 BST

Elisabetta Grillo, 41, and Francesca Grillo, 35, who are accused of abusing their positions as housekeepers to splash out on luxury items, pleaded: “Somewhere in your hearts you will find a way to forgive us.”

Prosecutors claim the Italian sisters lived the “high life”, spending the money on designer clothes and handbags from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood.

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An email sent by the sisters to Ms Lawson and Mr Saatchi was read out to the jury at Isleworth Crown Court by prosecutor Jane Carpenter. It read: “We are at our utmost despair and we are reaching out to you in the sincere hope that somewhere in your hearts you will find a way to forgive us and believe that we never meant in any way to seem to be disloyal or to seem like we took advantage of our positions.”

The sisters told the celebrity couple they believed they had a “bond like a family”, and saw them as mother and father figures. “There is not a worst feeling thinking we have in any way let down our family and we are deeply sorry and full of regret,” they wrote in the email in October last year. “From the bottom of our hearts we extend an olive branch in the hope that you will understand we never ever meant to hurt in any way. Please forgive us and help us put this right.”

The Grillo sisters, of Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater, west London, are accused of committing fraud by abusing their positions by using a company credit card for personal gain. They deny the charge.

The case continues.