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Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party and ex-husband of Nicola Sturgeon, has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison for embezzling £400,000 of party funds.
Police became aware of possible mismanagement of the SNP’s finances in March 2021 after receiving a complaint. An investigation was then launched after further complaints followed.
Officers carried out a search of Murrell’s home on 5 April 2023 and Murrell was arrested.
The 61-year-old, who was convicted on 25 May 2026, purchased an array of expensive items using the SNP’s main bank account, over which he had control, between August 2010 and October 2022, prosecutors said. He then used the party’s accounting software to record income and expenditure with “misleading descriptions and/or accounting codes”.
Some of the purchases included two luxury watches totalling £9,350.25, a coffee machine for £3,231.90, items from Montblanc for £24,342.60 and a motorhome for £124,550.
Murrell served as chief executive of the SNP from 2001 to 2023.
Assistant chief constable Stuart Houston from Police Scotland, who oversaw the investigation into Murrell, said the sentence was “proof that those who flout the law, who break the trust of those around them, and who embezzle vast sums of money will not escape justice, regardless of how high a profile or role they may hold”.
“Murrell occupied a significant position of privilege and power in public life in Scotland, entrusted to oversee the day-to-day operations of the country’s governing political party,” he continued. “His undeniably deliberate and calculated actions to mislead and steal for his own personal gain has proved his disregard for those who placed their trust in him”.
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