Nigella Lawson Choking Attack: TV Cook Leaves Charles Saatchi

A removal van has been spotted outside Nigella Lawson's marital home, fuelling speculation that she has ended her marriage to Charles Saatchi in the wake of the choking scandal.

A removals crew, under the direction of Lawson's sister Horatia, was photographed loading the TV chef's belongings, including her cookbooks, kitchen utensils and clothes, into a van.

The move came two weeks after images emerged of Saatchi with his hands around her neck outside a London restaurant.

Lawson, 53, who has been married to the billionaire art collector for 10 years was seen leaving the restaurant in tears.

Despite accepting a police caution, Saatchi later defended the assault at Scott's restaurant.

"There was no grip, it was a playful tiff," he wrote in his Evening Standard column. "The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."

The 70-year-old further protested his innocence after new pictures emerged of him apparently tweaking his wife's nose during the same row. He claimed he was merely helping to wipe her nose clean.

Following the incident, Lawson and her 17-year-old son Bruno were seen leaving the couple's Chelsea mansion with a suitcase. She has since been spotted without her wedding ring.

She has not commented on the incident.