Nigella Lawson has been spotted for the first time since she walked out on her husband Charles Saatchi almost a week ago - but was not wearing her wedding ring.

The celebrity chef, 53, whose art mogul husband repeatedly grabbed her throat ten days ago, is thought to have been staying with her sister Horatia Lawson in her Mayfair apartment.

She looked pale as she spoke on her mobile phone near her sister's home.

It is not known if she has separated from Saatchi permanently, but crucially she was seen at 10am yesterday without her gold wedding band on.

Miss Lawson is said to be facing increased pressure from managers to protect her brand through whatever decision she takes over her marriage. 

She was seen without her ring 48 hours after Saatchi confessed to assaulting her in public because he did not want the attack, which he called a 'playful tiff', 'hanging over all of us for months'. 

Miss Lawson is known to believe wedding rings are important, having refused to take hers off until four months after the death of previous husband John Diamond.

Shocking photographs showed the shamed multi-millionaire repeatedly grabbing Miss Lawson, 53, by the throat as their favourite restaurant.

Incredibly, last Saturday, six days after the initial assault they had returned to Scotts in Mayfair and sat feet from where Nigella was choked and fled in tears.

Nigella had looked distraught and stared into the distance looking glassy-eyed, barely talking to her husband. 

He was also seen touching her face tenderly, but she refused to meet his gaze.

The next day Miss Lawson left their Chelsea home with her children, and has not been seen publicly until now.

Saatchi has said that she left 'until the dust settles'.

ANGER AT CLEGG FOR DESCRIBING ASSAULT AS 'A FLEETING THING'

Nick Clegg came under fire today after describing the assault on Nigella Lawson as a 'fleeting' thing.

The Deputy Prime Minister twice used the phrase to refer to the moment Charles Saatchi grabbed his wife by the throat.

He also urged members of the public to intervene if they saw a couple fighting.

Appearing on his Call Clegg radio phone-in, Mr Clegg was asked if he would have intervened if he had been sat at the next table.

He replied: 'I don't know if this was a fleeting thing.'

He later added: 'I don't know whether that was a fleeting moment.'

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home Secretary, said: 'Nick Clegg revealed how little he understands violence against women this morning.

'Far too often violence against women is dismissed as fleeting or unimportant. 

'Too often public institutions don't take it seriously enough. Domestic violence is still a hidden crime - and victims suffer or are ignored as a result.'

Mr Saatchi has accepted a police caution for assault, she added.

'Ministers should show they are prepared to condemn this kind of violence against women and that they recognise the seriousness of domestic abuse. Nick Clegg completely failed to do that this morning.'

Tory MP Sarah Wollaston added: 'So just don't  "Call Clegg" if your partner likes to grab you by the throat to emphasise a point.'

Figures released last year for Miss Lawson's television production company, Pabulum Productions, showed its profits jumped to £1.4 million.

But the money made by the firm represents only a part of her fortune as it takes no account of her earnings from her Living Kitchen cookware range, which has an estimated value of £7 million, or the royalties from the more than three million cookbooks that Ms Lawson has sold around the world.

It is believed she has an overall personal worth of £15 million.

And together with her husband Charles, she shares a fortune  of £110 million. 

The couple have until recently shared a £12million, seven-bedroom house in Chelsea, West London. 

Meanwhile controversial artist Tracey Emin has also stepped into the row, saying those judging Saatchi 'have never been in love'.

She and the art mogul are friends, and he famously paid her £150,000 for her famous 'dirty unmade bed' after it failed to win the Turner Prize in 1999.

'All those people who are being judgmental about that situation have obviously never been in love,' she told the Daily Telegraph's Mandrake column at dinner in central London.

'They are in love and either they will or will not sort it out among themselves. 

'Meanwhile, people are now more interested or concerned by this than they are by how many children are having their legs blown off in Syria.

'No one knows how that conversation went between them at that restaurant. 

'For all we knew, she could have said to him 'Oh, do you have to smoke another fag?’ and he had jokingly said: "Yes, and I could just throttle every time you ask me that."

'I know it sounds silly, but it is as likely as any of this other speculation that is now being bandied about. And I honestly believe that those people who are wasting their time speculating have never been in love.'

Nick Clegg today urged members of the public to intervene if they saw a couple fighting.

But he risked angering domestic violence campaigners when he described the assault as a ‘fleeting thing’.

The Deputy Prime Minister insisted he did not know what had happened between the celebrity couple. ‘I do not know if it was a fleeting thing. I would rather not try and comment on a set of events… I am at a loss to put myself into that position.’

But he said that anyone who saw a man threatening a woman in public should step in.

‘If you were sitting next to people in a restaurant, who start particularly if someone who was much stronger, not always...

'But let’s say if a man who is much stronger than a woman… is physically threatening that woman then I hope everyone’s instincts would be to protect the weaker, to protect people who might otherwise be hurt.

‘I like everybody wants to protect people from being abused or bullied or hurt.’

However his description of the assault as a 'fleeting thing' was criticised by MPs who accused Mr Clegg of failing to condemn domestic violence.

David Cameron's official spokesman today distanced the Prime Minister from Mr Clegg's remarks.

He told journalists: 'Domestic violence should be condemned in the strongest terms. Simple as that.'

Saatchi was back eating dinner in Mayfair on Tuesday night, just a two minute walk from their favourite restaurant where he was seen clutching her neck.

The multimillionaire arrived at 34 restaurant near Bond Street without his third wife, who left their Chelsea home with her children and has not returned.

It is not clear if he dined alone, but comedian Harry Enfield and Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev left 30 seconds after the 70-year-old.

Miss Lawson, 53, one of Britain’s favourite cookery writers, has not been seen in public since leaving the family home more than 72 hours ago.

However yesterday drycleaners were seen returning the black and red polka dot top she was seen wearing on the day of the assault.

The clothes were returned to the family home in Mayfair, West London but she has not returned to the £12million property.

After the incident in the restaurant, the TV cook was seen sobbing in the top as she waited in the street to get into a car.

Photographs of her being choked and pinched on the nose by Saatchi while they sat outside Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair caused outrage.

Saatchi said he voluntarily went to police on the advice of his lawyer to head off a lengthy investigation.

As a result he was not arrested and escaped with a caution, a low-level punishment more commonly associated with vandalism and pickpocketing.

Saatchi, 70, emerged from his £14million seven-bedroom Chelsea home grinning broadly yesterday but the controversy around his actions showed no sign of going away. 

He was interviewed under caution by officers from the Community Safety Unit during four hours at Charing Cross police station on Monday. He was not arrested and did not have either his DNA or fingerprints taken.

In a statement, the former advertising mogul said: ‘Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months.’

In December the couple were seen again at Scott's, where Mr Saatchi was seen clapping his hand over his wife's mouth

Miss Lawson was seen leaving in a flood of tears but her husband later dismissed the confrontation as a ‘playful tiff’. 

Last night Saatchi was pictured going into another Mayfair restaurant, 34, on his own.

Scotland Yard has a ‘positive arrest’ policy in cases of domestic violence. It says officers must ‘arrest the suspect where there are reasonable grounds to suspect their involvement’ in a crime.

The Crown Prosecution Service said cautions are ‘rarely appropriate’ in domestic violence cases. Its guidelines say: ‘This is because such cases involve a breach of trust and are unlikely to be the first offence.’

Legal experts said Saatchi’s actions in choking his wife and pushing her nose could constitute common assault, which carries a maximum penalty of six months jail.

He received a ‘simple police caution’, a punishment which means he does not have a criminal record.

But the offence will appear on enhanced criminal checks and would count against him if he is arrested.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘The option of inviting someone to voluntarily attend a police station with their solicitor and to be interviewed under caution is widely used, including in some cases of domestic violence, as long as our duty of care to the victim, and the needs of the investigation, are still met.’

But the decision to give Saatchi a caution angered womens’ rights campaigners, who said the authorities missed an opportunity to set an example.

Sandra Horley, of Refuge, which helps domestic abuse victims, said national police guidelines state that cautions are ‘rarely appropriate’ in domestic abuse cases.

‘Cautions are sometimes used when a man admits to the assault and where there is no previous criminal record or history of violence,’ she said. ‘However, Refuge has concerns about cautioning perpetrators of domestic violence as it does not act as an effective deterrent.