The husband of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has admitted that he assaulted his wife after a public argument at a London restaurant on June 9.

Charles Saatchi, 70, was interviewed by British police for five hours about the fight, where he was seen with his hands around Lawson's neck in a row he first downplayed as merely a couple's tiff. Photographers outside the restaurant captured the images of the confrontation, which were published this weekend to great public outcry. Lawson was visibly upset when she left the restaurant and is seen crying in the photos.

He said he voluntarily went to a police station to accept the caution as "it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months". He said the photos made the exchange look worse than it actually was, but he admitted to police that he had choked his wife in a fight at a Mayfair area restaurant.

Scotland Yard earlier confirmed that a 70-year-old man "accepted a caution for assault" on Monday afternoon.

Lawson has not commented.

According to London's Evening Standard, Saatchi said: "Although Nigella made no complaint, I volunteered to go to Charing Cross station 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 Monday's Evening Standard, Saatchi said: "About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point. There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."

He continued: "We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Saatchi, a former advertising executive, and Ms Lawson have been married since 2003. She has two children, Cosima and Bruno, from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died in 2001.