Murrell spent SNP funds while on luxury getaway with Sturgeon

Peter Murrell embezzled hundreds of pounds from the SNP during a luxury getaway with Nicola Sturgeon, The Telegraph can disclose.

The then SNP leader and her husband were seen at the five-star Isle of Eriska Hotel and Spa on the west coast of Scotland in the middle of August 2021.

Court documents show that on the Saturday of the weekend trip Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, spent £330.04 on Amazon using money embezzled from the SNP.

They included £269.99 on a Gosky “spotting scope”, commonly used for bird watching and wildlife viewing, complete with carrying case and a smartphone adaptor.

He also spent more than £60 on two bottles of Tobermory gin as part of the same transaction. The brand is part of the hotel’s gin menu, raising the prospect that Murrell purchased the spirit after sampling it during their stay.

That afternoon Murrell and Ms Sturgeon were seen by other guests enjoying a champagne afternoon tea on the terrace of the hotel, one of Scotland’s most exclusive and expensive destinations.

Last week, The Telegraph revealed that the couple visited the resort, which charges up to £750 per night for a room, in July 2021. The August trip came less than six weeks after that first visit.

Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon’s lawyer, said this stay had been “cut short” owing to a spike in Covid cases and the August visit was “intended to make up for this”.

He said Ms Sturgeon believed that the second stay had been funded by Murrell but “whether this was part of his criminal conduct is a question not” for her.

Mr Anwar also disclosed that the couple had a third visit to the hotel in December 2021 for Murrell’s 57th birthday, this time funded by Ms Sturgeon.

All three stays at the Isle of Eriska happened in the midst of Murrell’s embezzlement, in which he stole around £400,000 from the SNP during a 12-year period.

Ms Sturgeon maintains that she assumed Murrell could afford to pay for some of the expensive items he embezzled because “we were both earning high salaries and, due to the responsibilities of my job, rarely socialised or went on holidays.”

She has said that she had “no reason to doubt” he had used his own money to fund the luxury purchases she knew about. They had separate bank accounts.

Hotel stays omitted from police inquiry

But the Tories said Murrell’s embezzling of SNP funds during the August trip raises further questions about Ms Sturgeon’s insistence that she knew nothing about Murrell’s crimes.

The Telegraph understands the Isle of Eriska Hotel stays were omitted from the police inquiry into his crimes as they were not billed to the SNP.

The resort is situated on its own 300-acre private island on the shores of Loch Creran and includes a spa, swimming pool and two high-end restaurants.

The baronial mansion also boasts a tennis court, nine-hole golf course, nature reserve and private beach.

Guests saw Ms Sturgeon and Murrell dining together in the hotel on Aug 13, 2021, during which they were having a “very animated” discussion.

They said “several bottles of wine” had been taken and the then Scottish First Minister appeared to be “very agitated”.

“They seemed to be enjoying the night until they had a phone call,” one told The Telegraph.

“She was up and out of the door three or four times with her mobile phone. I only found out the following morning that her sister had been arrested.”

Ms Sturgeon’s younger sister, Gillian, was charged that month over an incident at a house in North Ayrshire. The charges were later dropped.

The following afternoon Ms Sturgeon and Murrell were seen on the terrace with a flute of champagne each enjoying an afternoon tea.

Court documents do not stipulate when during that day he placed the Amazon order using an SNP charge card.

In addition to the wildlife “spotting scope”, he spent £33 on a bottle of Tobermory Hebridean mountain gin and £27.05 on Tobermory Hebridean gin with a gift box.

Mr Anwar told The Telegraph that it was “a well-known fact that Ms Sturgeon rarely took holidays whilst in office”.

He said: “A short stay in Eriska in July 2021 had to be cut short due to a spike in Covid cases necessitating her to return to Edinburgh.

“A return visit for a couple of nights in August was intended to make up for this. Ms Sturgeon believes the August stay was paid for by Mr Murrell – whether this was part of his criminal conduct is a question not for Ms Sturgeon, but for his lawyers and the Crown Office.

“There was one further night spent at Eriska in December 2021 and this was a birthday gift from Ms Sturgeon to Mr Murrell, paid for from her own funds.”

But Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory leader, said: “It’s remarkable that Murrell’s crime spree continued even while gallivanting with his wife on their high-end holiday.

“But, frankly, he must have felt completely untouchable because Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney were telling everyone that the SNP’s finances were sound.”

He also questioned her claim they rarely went on holiday, saying they had enjoyed “two back-to-back stays at this luxury hotel, which is beyond the financial reach of most Scots”.

Sturgeon warned SNP against going public

Earlier that year, in March 2021, three senior SNP officials resigned from the party’s finance and audit committee after being denied sight of the accounts.

The same month Ms Sturgeon told a meeting of the SNP’s ruling national executive committee that the party’s finances had never been stronger.

She warned members of the effect on future donations to the SNP if anyone went public with their concerns. However, a few days later Police Scotland received its first complaint.

The force created Operation Branchform, which uncovered the embezzlement by Murrell, which totalled £400,310.65 between August 2010 and October 2022.

A week before the couple’s July 2021 visit to the Isle of Eriska he sold an iPad belonging to the SNP for £701 and pocketed the proceeds.

Other guests staying at the island retreat said the pair “wined and dined in a very lavish manner” during that visit.

They said her break was interrupted by a trip back to the Central Belt for some political duties but she later returned to the hotel.

Mr Anwar said that she had settled “a bill for charges incurred” at the hotel during the July stay from her personal account.

However, he declined to confirm whether this meant that she had paid the entire cost of the room, had split the bill between herself and her now-estranged husband, or had covered some ancillary costs.

A fortnight after the August 2021 trip to the Isle of Eriska, Murrell sold a Jaguar I-Pace he had bought with money embezzled from the party for £47,378.76. The money went into his personal account.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]