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.

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”.