Sturgeon: ‘I’m Serving A Sentence For A Crime I Didn’t Commit’

Nicola Sturgeon has told the BBC she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” in relation to her ex-husband’s embezzlement of SNP funds.

Peter Murrell, chief executive of the Scottish National Party between 2001 and 2023, pleaded guilty to taking more than £400,000 from the SNP this week.

He has been charged with embezzling funds from the party between August 2010 and October 2022.

Arrested in 2023 and charged in 2024, Murrell has been remanded in custody and is set to be sentenced at the end of June.

He made a series of extravagant purchases while he was SNP chief, including a £124,550 campervan for his own personal use.

His then-wife Sturgeon was also arrested in 2024 and questioned by detectives, but was never charged with any offences.

The former first minister of Scotland and ex-SNP leader has faced a barrage of criticism after she claimed she was completely unaware of her then-spouse Peter Murrell’s crimes.

Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Sturgeon said: “A lot of women find themselves blamed for the men of the actions in their lives – I’m not going to contribute to that in a sense that I am responsible for somebody else’s crimes.”

She added: “I believe strongly in that accountability, but I am not responsible for the crimes my former husband committed and I’m not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes.”

But BBC presenter Kuenssberg pointed out that Sturgeon was still leader of the party when Murrell was taking funds from the party, and asked if she therefore beared responsibility.

“He perpetrated a crime on the SNP,” the ex-first minister said. “By definition, that includes me as party leader.

“He misled, he deceived. He is serving and will be serving a sentence for a crime he committed.

“I’m out here, feeling as if I’m serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit.”

Asked why she only gave “no comment” responses to the police when she was arrested, Sturgeon said: “I was in a state of near collapse. I was terrified, I was bewildered, I was in a state of high stress and anxiety.”

She said her lawyer told her not to answer questions “in such a state of stress”, and that she prepared a detailed statement afterwards.

Sturgeon also insisted she was unaware that her husband had bought the campervan.

“My mother and father’s house has a driveway in front where we would park our car and then we would go into the house,” she said.

“Where the motorhome was was round the side of the house, which was not immediately visible in the way that we went into the house.”

She said: “I genuinely, genuinely, don’t have any conscious memory of seeing that motorhome.

“If I saw it I probably would have assumed it was a neighbour’s. My mother and father-in-law were in their mid-80s, it wouldn’t have crossed my mind that it was theirs and why would it have crossed my mind that it was the SNP’s, that Peter had bought it?”

She said it was “never” discussed, adding: “I genuinely do not recall seeing it in a way that I registered it and thought, ‘oh there’s a motorhome’.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.