Sturgeon’s estranged husband admits embezzling £400k from SNP

Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband has admitted stealing £400,000 from the SNP over a 12-year period.

Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, was led away in handcuffs and remanded into custody on Monday after pleading guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party between August 2010 and October 2022. He will be sentenced on June 23.

He was accused of using the money to buy a range of items, including a motorhome, two cars and a string of luxury goods, and falsifying accounting records in an attempt to cover up his crimes.

The guilty plea at Edinburgh’s High Court immediately triggered accusations that Ms Sturgeon must have known about Murrell’s wrongdoing, with politicians across the spectrum demanding answers about what she and the SNP knew before Monday’s hearing.

Ms Sturgeon, the former SNP leader and Scottish first minister, later insisted she did not know that Murrell had embezzled from the party.

She said she was “angry, hurt, sad and very distressed” by the guilty plea, and claimed she had been “misled” by Murrell, just as others were”.

She and Murrell separated last year.

Murrell was first arrested in April 2023 as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances and was charged in April 2024.

Ms Sturgeon was also questioned by detectives, but police have since confirmed she is no longer under investigation.

Murrell was accused of using party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his personal use from a dealer in Staffordshire, and that he created false documentation “to portray the purchase as a legitimate party expense”.

The indictment alleges that he stored the vehicle at his mother Margaret’s home in Dunfermline, Fife.

Murrell was further accused of using £57,500 of SNP money towards the purchase of an £81,000 Jaguar I-PACE car in 2019.

It was also alleged that he falsified an invoice “in an attempt to disguise the true nature” of that purchase, and that when the Jaguar was sold in 2021, more than £47,000 was paid into his personal bank account.

Murrell was also alleged to have embezzled £16,489 from the SNP in part payment for a £33,000 Volkswagen Golf purchased in Newbridge, Edinburgh, in 2016.

He admitted filing false business expense claims worth £18,408.91 between Jan 2019 and 2022, including £12,042 from Apple. The indictment said he used the latter proceeds to part-fund the purchase of the Jaguar.

The former SNP chief executive used party credit cards to fund £42,660.74 of purchases from Amazon between August 2010 and October 2022. The items purchased were “for your own personal use or the personal use of others”, the indictment said.

Murrell admitted using “false or inaccurate accounting codes and descriptions for the purchase of said items” to “disguise the true nature of said purchases.”

He also admitted spending £139,971 on items from a variety of shops, including luxury purchases from Montblanc, Fortnum and Mason and Molton Brown. Again, he used false accounting codes to hide what he was doing.

Murrell also used SNP money to pay a £30 personal parking fine, and he sold an SNP-owned iPad Pro and pocketed £701 from the sale.

Prosecutor Alan Cameron KC told the court that the Crown intended to recover Murrell’s ill-gotten gains by using proceeds of crime legislation.

He arrived at the High Court on Monday wearing a dark blue suit with a black tie. His guilty plea was tendered on his behalf by his lawyer, John Scullion KC.

Judge Lord Young afterwards told Murrell: “You have pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement over a period of 12 years. You embezzled just over £400,000 from the Scottish National Party.

“As the chief executive officer of that organisation throughout that period, your actions constitute a gross breach of trust.”

Until he stood down in 2023 during the leadership race to succeed Ms Sturgeon, Murrell had been chief executive of the SNP for more than 20 years.

They had been one of the most powerful couples in UK politics for many years, with Ms Sturgeon serving for more than eight years as Scottish first minister and SNP leader, while Murrell was the chief executive of the party.

In January last year, Ms Sturgeon announced she and Murrell had “decided to end” their marriage.

Jackie Baillie, the Scottish Labour deputy leader, claimed it was “inconceivable that Nicola Sturgeon knew nothing about the large-scale fraud, which she benefited from, taking place under her nose in both her party and her home”, and accused her of trying to “shut down scrutiny when questions about the finances started to emerge”.

‘Preposterous protestations of ignorance’

She called on John Swinney, the SNP leader, to “come clean and explain what he knew and what the party knew”.

Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory leader, said: “Peter Murrell has finally taken the rap for being a thieving magpie – but he used vast sums of the stolen cash to feather the marital nest he shared with Nicola Sturgeon.

“His crime spree took place right under her nose over many years while they jointly held a vice-like grip on the SNP.

“You would need to be a particularly gullible member of Nicola Sturgeon’s fan club to swallow her preposterous protestations of ignorance about her husband’s criminal racket... as a supposed master of fine detail, is it really plausible to believe that she didn’t notice that her crooked husband was spending money like a lottery jackpot winner? Did she never think to ask Peter where the money was coming from?”

Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly denied knowledge of Murrell’s embezzlement.

In a statement on Instagram on Monday, she said: “My reaction to the guilty plea tendered today by my former husband is difficult to put into words. I am angry, hurt, sad and very distressed about the impact of his actions on family, friends and the SNP.”

She added: “To be deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted has caused me acute pain. Why he acted as he did is, and always will be, beyond my comprehension.

“To be clear: I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that he was using SNP funds for personal purposes. I am utterly appalled that he did so and cannot begin to understand why. That I was fully cleared after a thorough investigation underlines that these are not my crimes. I was misled just as others were.

“I know that there will be political discussion in light of what has happened, and I understand why. However, for me, this has also been a profound personal trauma. I need to remain focused on recovering from that and building a new phase of life. I will be making no further comment.”

On Monday afternoon, Mr Swinney said he shared the “overwhelming anger felt by SNP members” over Murrell’s behaviour.

Accusing Murrell of “a terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal”, he told a press conference: “By embezzling from the SNP, Peter Murrell was stealing the hopes, the dreams and the aspirations of thousands of people all over Scotland, people who gave what they could over many years in the hope that it would help contribute to a better country.

“So today I am horrified, I am betrayed.”

Speaking after the hearing, Asst Chief Constable Stuart Houston of Police Scotland accused Murrell of “showing utter contempt for the high public trust placed in him”.

“[Murrell] abused his privileged position with access to Scottish National Party funds to divert cash into his own accounts and bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford,” he said.

“From 2010 to 2022, he spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on luxury goods while carefully trying to hide his criminality with false receipts and accounting.

“He must now face the consequences of his actions.”

Mr Houston added: “This is without doubt one of the most high-profile investigations in recent times, and it is testimony to the work of Police Scotland officers and staff that has led to Peter Murrell’s admission of guilt early in the court process.”

Asked if anyone else was aware of Murrell’s activities, Mr Houston said: “What others may be aware of, that’s a matter for them to answer, what they may or may not have known regarding the conduct and the criminal behaviour of Peter Murrell.”

Asked if it was credible that others around the former SNP chief executive were not aware of Murrell’s crimes, he said: “We arrested and interviewed other persons during the course of this investigation.

“After direction and engagement with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, no one else was charged in relation to those offences.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]