Nigella Lawson's Former PA's Deny Fraud

Grillo Sisters: Elisabetta (L) & Francesca (R)

Two Italian sisters, accused of defrauding celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and her husband Charles Saatchi while employed as personal assistants, will stand trial later this year.

Elisabetta Grillo, 40, and Francesca Grillo, 34, both of Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater will fight the allegations before an Isleworth Crown Court jury.

Both were committed from Hammersmith Magistrates' Court last month on a charge of fraud by abuse of position between January 1, 2008 and December 31, last year in that while occupying the positions of personal assistants for the Conarco Partnership dishonestly abused that position by using the company credit card for personal gain.

Elisabetta is charged with defrauding £58,744 and Francesca £266,827.

Both are on bail on condition they surrender their passports to the police and do not apply for any travel documents that would allow them to leave the United Kingdom.

It is alleged the company credit card was abused when funding a £3,616 Virgin Atlantic flight to New York and purchasing designer goods from Prada, Miu Miu and Chanel.

The sisters were first employed by Nigella when she was married to her late first husband John Diamond, who died of cancer in 2001, aged forty-seven.

They continued working for the chef when she married Charles Saatchi in September, 2003, but were sacked last year.

It was an ugly end to their long-term relationship with Nigella, who wrote of them in her 2011 cookery book 'Recipes From The Heart Of The Home': "I give heartfelt thanks to…my kitchen confidantes: Lisa and Francesca Grillo."