Nigella ‘won hearts of public’ say court pair

Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo spoke to ITV This Morning following their acquittal last month on charges of fraudulently using company credit cards, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on designer goods for themselves, while working as personal assistants to Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi.

But the Italian sisters claimed every purchase had been approved by their then-bosses and were found not guilty after jurors at Isleworth Crown Court in west London deliberated for nine hours.

“We have won the court case but definitely she had the most support from the public. She is well loved and she will always be loved and I am sure she will be fine,” Francesca Grillo, 35, told the programme.

“She is great at what she is doing and I wish her all the best.”

The TV cook whose series The Taste, billed as Masterchef meets The Voice, launched last night on Channel 4 said last week that her “only desire” during the trial had been to protect her children but “alas I couldn’t always do”.

The mother-of-two appeared on US TV show Good Morning America to promote her new show but was also asked about the court case, which saw her face allegations of drug-taking.

Asked what it was like to be a witness in the trial, Lawson told the programme: “I can’t really remember exactly because you’re so focused on answering the questions to the best of your ability that actually you don’t really have an enormous awareness of yourself.

“Maybe that’s a good thing. My only desire really was to protect my children as much as possible which... alas I couldn’t always do.”

Lawson admitted during the trial that she had used cocaine during both her marriages and police are to review her admission that she took the class A drug.