British authorities will review the trial of two ex-employees of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson for a possible drug investigation, the Metropolitan Police Service said on Sunday.
The announcement comes just two days after a London jury acquitted two former assistants of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband, art-dealer Charles Saatchi, in a high-profile trial that inspired tabloid headlines around the world after allegations about Lawson’s drug use surfaced.
Sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo had been accused of defrauding the couple of 685,000 pounds, or approximately $1.12 million, spent on designer clothes, handbags and expensive trips.
But the Grillos claimed their lavish personal spending on the couple’s credit cards was part of an agreement to keep quiet on Lawson’s drug use.
During the trial, Lawson, 53, denied the defense’s accusations that she abused cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills on a daily basis, but said she smoked marijuana occasionally towards the end of her ten-year marriage to Saatchi, and had taken cocaine in the past, but not regularly.
On Sunday, police said in a statement that a specialist 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 there was no “imminent prospect of a prosecution being mounted” against Lawson and that a senior investigating officer received legal advice that her admissions did not by themselves provide sufficient evidence to bring charges.
The trial drew attention for the details on the nature of the celebrity chef's former marriage, which Lawson described as “intimate terrorism.” The couple divorced in July after making headlines over photographs showing Saatchi clasping his wife’s throat at a London restaurant.
Lawson said she was “disappointed but unsurprised” by the result of the trial, and claimed the Grillos had to tried 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 issued by her publicist.
Reuters contributed to this report.