British TV cook Nigella Lawson's husband grabbed her by the throat in public. Pictures have surfaced showing multi-millionaire Charles Saatchi apparently squeezing her terrified wife's neck during a row at a London restaurant.

Photos captured by the Sunday People reveal how Charles grabbed Nigella by the neck as she struggled to get away from his hold while they were dining outdoors at their favourite restaurant Scott's last Sunday. Fellow diners and passersby witnessed the couple's heated argument, which shortly led to the alleged attack.

Charles, 70, was seen starting a heated exchange with his wife, reducing her to tears. He reportedly grabbed her neck four times, then tweaked her nose and used both of his wrists to push Nigella's face away.

Eyewitnesses said that Nigella appeared to try and calm her husband down with a trembling voice during their argument. She wiped her tears with a napkin, while her husband tapped his cigarettes impatiently on the table.

Nobody intervened, although onlookers said that the incident looked violent.

"It was utterly shocking to watch," an onlooker told the tabloid. "I have no doubt she was scared. I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes.

"Nigella was very, very upset. She had a real look of fear on her face. No man should do that to a woman. She raised her voice and got angry but at the same time was trying to calm him down, almost like you would try to calm down a child."

Nigella, 53, then kissed the advertising mogul, which onlookers described as "strange."

"He was being intimidating, threatening. And yet she kissed him. She appeared to be a woman who loves him but was clearly unable to stop him being abusive, frightening, and disrespectful to her."

Charles then took off and got into a car, leaving Nigella sobbing at the table. She followed him a short while later, looking miserable as she wiped her tears away.

Nigella appeared to have let go of the incident since she didn't file a police report.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told the Daily Mail that they are "aware" of the pictures of the alleged attack and that "inquiries are in hand to establish the facts of the incident."

This isn't the first time the couple have been seen publicly arguing, but it's apparently the first that he was seen manhandling her.

Nigella, who was married to journalist John Diamond from 1992 until his death in 2001, married Charles in September 2003. She initially had drawn disapproval from the public two years before when she moved in with him just nine months after her first husband's death. Charles was also married twice before.