So it's alleged nigella took drugs with her kids?

[Bradsplit]

In the trial prosecution evidence. Aha.

I don't think she wants to be there.

poor management might be true (and in my experience that is the norm) but still doesn't mean you are entitled to steal.

If shops don't have security guards on the door and security tags on the goods - it doesn't mean you are entitled to take them.

They have in effect already paid for their poor financial management - I doubt they'll see much of their £600k back

Holding your head high isn't literal though is it? I find the complete move away from her usual demeanour a shame really. I am not referring to the sisters and their theft accusation I mean the bad feeling between CS and NL could have been put to one side and sorted themselves and just concentrate on the matter in hand

Exploitation of employees by insisting on payment in kind (and I am of the opinion that this is the strongest hypothesis here) is not exactly legal either.

Bonsoir - you might have decided that is the case but both NL and CS have categorically said not and presumably their employment contract is easy to check.

noddy - agreeing to keep their troubled marriage out of it might have been better but sadly I think there was no choice - one the sisters realised they could use it to their advantgae it was always going to be dragged in. I think it was only raised after the marriage problems became public.

Well it won't be written in the contract now will it, Kewcumber [duh]

If they were insisting on payment in kind and not declaring it they were breaking the law. If they were declaring it there was no advantage.

And "spend whatever you want so I can avoid employer's NI on your actual salary" doesn't make economic sense.

quite merry - 12% employers NI on even a salary of £75,000 hardly makes sense to pay them £600k instead.

If they agreed to the spending in order to avoid NI - why did they report it when they found out and open themselves up to public ridicule and big penalties from HMRC

merrymouse - it's what loads of employers of domestic staff do.

It's official.

Bonsoir is in fact a Grillo sister.

Or an 'arriviste' snob, as formally suggested.

There seems very little doubt but that they were stealing. Any specific present NL individually sanctioned but no personal spending of theirs was allowed on the cards. I think they just got greedy and jealous. NL presents a very fair picture of it all.
Their salaries of £25k and £28mk when they were mostly on facebook all day and were being rewarded for long service etc plus board are very generous in London. No one would expect £600k of personal gifts on top of that.

It will be interesting to see whether any of the parties involved have an actual employment contract to wave around in court.

Well then loads of employers of domestic staff are either breaking the law, badly informed or nuts.

Or living in countries where the laws on tax and benefits in kind are different to the uk.

Bonsoir - not so much in UK with NI only 12% unlike France which has one of the highest social taxes in teh world (from memory) around 30% employers social tax contribution.

She looked very good and very purposeful striding into Court.

He's a nasty bastard alright.

He really is ghastly - you can imagine that he is absolutely livid about NL leaving him. So embarrassing for the wife throttle. He obviously can't stand it.

At least she has admitted taking the coke

Twice in her life inc 2010

Has she noddy ?

Yes. And to qualify it by saying only twice is classic denial/minimising tactic.

Many people have taken drugs in their past - it doesn't mean that they are still using or currently have a problem.

She denied it initially though.

Undignified. Using her deceased dh as an excuse for the first time and then saying smoking spliff to make marriage tolerable. Blaming everyone but herself.