Two personal assistants to Charles Saatchi and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson complained they were “being treated worse than Filipino slaves” when they were confronted over their alleged spending sprees at the couple’s expense, a court has heard.

Two personal assistants to Charles Saatchi and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson complained that they were “being treated worse than Filipino slaves” when they were confronted over their alleged spending sprees on the couple’s credit cards, a court has heard.

Millionaire art dealer Charles Saatchi’s accountant has told a court he did not tell his boss and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson his suspicions that their personal assistants were spending thousands of pounds of their money as he did not want to bother them with “trivial matters”.

Jurors in the trial of two personal assistants to Nigella Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who are accused of using a company credit card to spend more than £685,000 (€820,000) on themselves, have been told the case is “not about other issues of matrimonial discord or drug taking”.