The former chief executive of the Scottish National Party, Peter Murrell, who is also Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, has been jailed for embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the party.
Murrell pleaded guilty on Monday morning when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Murrell admitted to embezzling more than £459,000 from the party between 2010 and 2023 to buy a motorhome, two cars and luxury goods.
He will be sentenced next month, with the former SNP official being remanded in custody in the period.
Speaking after the hearing, Asst Chief Constable Stuart Houston of Police Scotland said 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.”
Sturgeon and Murrell were one of Scotland’s most powerful couples at the top of politics, with the former Scottish first minister and SNP leader saying she had “decided to end” the marriage in January last year.
Murrell was first arrested in April 2023 as part of a police investigation into party finances and he was charged a year later.
He had been the party’s chief executive for 22 years, taking over in 2001 under the leadership of John Swinney, who has since served as the first minister of Scotland since 2024.
His wife Sturgeon became the party’s leader in 2015, a year after the Scottish referendum that saw the ‘No’ vote to independence win by 10 percentage points.
She resigned in February 2023, years after a fraud investigation named ‘Operation Branchform’ had been launched into the nationalist party.
Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie had also been arrested as part of Operation Branchform but the police confirmed last year that they were no longer under investigation.
Ex SNP official responsible for ‘breach of trust’
The judge for the case, Lord Young, said Murrell had been responsible for a “gross breach of trust”.
The SNP has maintained support across the nation despite years of scrutiny over financial misconduct.
The party held onto Holyrood in elections earlier this month by winning 58 seats, compared to 17 for Labour and Reform UK, and 15 for the Scottish Greens.
Its vote share was its lowest point since 2007 although the day proved to be more gruelling for Scottish Labour, with its leader Anas Sarwar blaming the defeat on Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
