𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Peter Murrell, the ex-husband of former SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon, splashed thousands of pounds on luxury purchases using money embezzled from party funds. Included in the spending was a £1,200 space telescope, a designer bread bin costing £60 and two toilet seats totalling nearly £70. He also purchased Grand Theft Auto V, a video game featuring drug dealers, sex workers and extreme violence.

Serving as chief executive of the Scottish National Party at the time, he even bought a set of egg poachers and a scale model of a helicopter. Mr Murrell pleaded guilty to the act of embezzlement of party funds in court. He was initially charged with embezzling £459,046.49, but the sum has now dropped to £400,310.65. His ex-wife, the pro-independence Scottish politician Nicola Sturgeon insisted she had “no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever” that her estranged husband was “using SNP funds for personal purposes”.

She said she was “utterly appalled” he had done so, adding that she “could not begin to understand why”.

The former SNP leader said her reaction to her former partner’s guilty plea was “difficult to put into words”.

Posting on Instagram, Ms Sturgeon said she was “angry, hurt, sad and very distressed about the impact of his actions on family, friends and the SNP”.

The former party leader, who stepped down as an MSP at May’s Holyrood election said: “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.”

A list of items he purchased, which was made available after his plea, included a Beatles special edition fountain pen and rollerball for £1,475.

He also splashed out on a high-spec telescope, spending £1,199 on the device, and buying numerous accessories for it on the same day.

A senior Police Scotland officer has defended the length of the criminal investigation into the SNP’s finances, saying the time taken was “crucial” given its complexity.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said Peter Murrell had “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”.

Speaking to the media at Fettes police station in Edinburgh, Mr Houston was asked about the length of time taken by Operation Branchform: the police investigation into the SNP’s finances which began in 2021.

The senior officer, who had oversight of the investigation, said: “I think (given) the volume and nature of the real, real complexity regarding the financial crimes that were committed – it has taken some time but that was crucial.”

The revelation that their former chief executive had embezzled the funds of members led the current leader of the SNP, John Swinney, to accuse Mr Murrell of “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.”