Former SNP Chief Pleads Guilty To Embezzling 400 K

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has been remanded into custody after pleading guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The 62-year-old, who is the estranged husband of former SNP leader and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, admitted the charges on Monday morning. He will be sentenced on June 23.

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

Murrell was the SNP’s chief executive between 2001 and 2023, the same year in which he was first arrested as part of Operation Branchform, a Police Scotland probe into the party’s finances. He was charged in April, 2024.

Sturgeon was also arrested and questioned by detectives, but was never charged with any offences.

The indictment against Murrell included allegations that in 2020 he used party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his own personal use.

He and Sturgeon had previously been one of the most powerful couples in UK politics.

She served for more than eight years as first minister and SNP leader, while Murrell was the party’s chief executive.

In January last year, Sturgeon announced she and Murrell had “decided to end” their marriage after nearly 15 years.

Responding to Murrell’s guilty plea, Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston of Police Scotland said: “Peter Murrell has shown utter contempt for the high public trust placed in him as the chief executive of a political party and his position in the wider political establishment of Scotland for many years.

“He 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.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said 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”.

“It was Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP party machine that attempted to close ranks and shut down scrutiny when questions about the finances started to emerge and we need to know why,” she said.

“[SNP leader] John Swinney needs to come clean and explain what he knew and what the party knew.”

But Sturgeon said she had been “deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted”.

In a statement, she added: “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.”

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