Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband and the SNP’s former Chief Executive, has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over 12 years. The Telegraphhas the story:
Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former Chief Executive, was led away in handcuffs and remanded into custody on Monday after pleading guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party between August 2010 and October 2022. He will be sentenced on June 23rd.
He was accused of using the money to buy a range of items, including a motorhome, two cars and a string of luxury goods, and falsifying accounting records in an attempt to cover up his crimes.
The guilty plea at Edinburgh’s High Court immediately triggered accusations that Ms Sturgeon must have known about Murrell’s wrongdoing, with politicians across the spectrum demanding answers about what she and the SNP knew before Monday’s hearing.
Ms Sturgeon, the former SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, later insisted she did not know that Murrell had embezzled from the party. …
She and Murrell separated last year.
Murrell was first arrested in April 2023 as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances and was charged in April 2024.
Murrell’s police mugshot. His crimes were called a “gross breach of trust” by the judge in his case
Ms Sturgeon was also questioned by detectives, but police have since confirmed she is no longer under investigation.
Murrell was accused of using party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his personal use from a dealer in Staffordshire, and of creating false documentation “to portray the purchase as a legitimate party expense”. …
A motorhome, allegedly belonging to Murrell, is towed away from a residential street
Murrell was further accused of using £57,500 of SNP money towards the purchase of an £81,000 Jaguar I-PACE car in 2019.
It was also alleged that he falsified an invoice “in an attempt to disguise the true nature” of that purchase, and that when the Jaguar was sold in 2021, more than £47,000 was paid into his personal bank account.
Ms Sturgeon was snapped in 2021 walking past a Jaguar on her driveway
Murrell was also alleged to have embezzled £16,489 from the SNP in part payment for a £33,000 Volkswagen Golf purchased in Newbridge, Edinburgh, in 2016.
He admitted filing false business expense claims worth £18,408.91 between January 2019 and 2022, including £12,042 from Apple. The indictment said he used the latter proceeds to part-fund the purchase of the Jaguar.
The former SNP Chief Executive used party credit cards to fund £42,660.74 of purchases from Amazon between August 2010 and October 2022. The items purchased were “for your own personal use or the personal use of others”, the indictment said.
Murrell admitted using “false or inaccurate accounting codes and descriptions for the purchase of said items” to “disguise the true nature of said purchases”.
He also admitted spending £139,971 on items from a variety of shops, including luxury purchases from Montblanc, Fortnum and Mason and Molton Brown. Again, he used false accounting codes to hide what he was doing.
Murrell also used SNP money to pay a £30 personal parking fine, and he sold an SNP-owned iPad Pro and pocketed £701 from the sale.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron KC told the court that the Crown intended to recover Murrell’s ill-gotten gains by using proceeds of crime legislation.
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Great scene near the climax where the crooks are impersonating the German general & aide come to inspect the local forces the same day the gang planned to steal the payroll of the troops off the train. The confused scene at the station is brilliantly choreographed, one of the most under appreciated comedy scenes of all time.
As for the Sturgeon things, they are an embodiment of the corruption and degeneracy, moral, and spiritual, at the heart of western society today. I wouldn’t pi$$ on them if they were on fire.
Gezza England
3 months ago
The joys of life at The Krankies.
WillP
3 months ago
Anyone watching the zoom conference that was leaked can see her shutting down questions about the funds
shred
3 months ago
The Scots are known for their lax attitude to spending beyond their means and Nicola is qualified as a solicitor. Of course they didn’t realise that all these luxury purchases weren’t paid for out of a lottery win.
EppingBlogger
3 months ago
Clearly SNP leadership has been culpable since questions were first asked and brushed aside a decade ago. I never believe it when friends and partners claim not to know of criminal or despicable behaviour. I do t believe it in this case either.
What are the odds he won’t get a custodial sentence. Rape doesn’t qualify IC you turn up to court and say you didn’t realise she didn’t want it. Twice.
If he goes to gaol let’s anticipate he gets the full benefits of friendly cross culture fellow inmates. He deserves it.
Handy this case took so long and came to a conclusion just after elections so the DNP can persuade voters to forget about it before next time.
There are Electoral Rules about party financial affairs. There are rules about auditors. How was this missed. A politician on his own would not be able to conceal it. There must have been collusion.
If the auditors were not incompetent the false evidence and explanations must have been highly complex.
They showed her on the BBC news walking past a Jaguar parked on their drive. This was one of the cars he bought with the money he embezzled.
Now I don’t know about you but if I turned up with a new Jaguar, my wife would ask some questions.
Everything about this stinks like an old Jock strap…15 years, pour encourager les autres.
Are you paying attention, Miliband, Starmer, Rayner, Hermer, et al?
Tonka Fairy
3 months ago
LOL.
Matt Dalby
3 months ago
Sturgeon is either bisexual, or a lesbian that married a bloke before she came to terms with her sexuality, or thought that being openly gay would harm her chances in politics, and has had at least one affair with another woman. This makes it easier to believe that they spent very little time together or spoke to each other that much and she might of not known what Murrel was doing or where he got all the money from.
I was merely answering ToF’s question. Believe her? She’s an opportunist politician. I suspect she said what she did to make herself seem cool to the SNP and it’s supporters. She needs to seem cool in order to sell her memoirs. I really don’t care if she’s straight or as bent as a corkscrew. What she is is a nationalist and socialist – which is not a great combination – and not to be trusted.
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Rotten to the Core, both of them. BTW if you need a laugh I recommend the 1965 comedy of the same name. :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotten-Core-DVD-Anton-Rodgers/dp/B00I0BNG16/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1CDZ9G9WLHD84&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dNbNxX88uLXjG5RkumfGw2grWEJB1lW_ccBpewX4zrA.ePgwobdLjVSuGIc1pZWL3iwcexfklQFEssOrI5zxfw8&dib_tag=se&keywords=rotten+to+the+core+dvd&qid=1779758751&sprefix=rotten+to+the+core+dvd%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1
Great scene near the climax where the crooks are impersonating the German general & aide come to inspect the local forces the same day the gang planned to steal the payroll of the troops off the train. The confused scene at the station is brilliantly choreographed, one of the most under appreciated comedy scenes of all time.
As for the Sturgeon things, they are an embodiment of the corruption and degeneracy, moral, and spiritual, at the heart of western society today. I wouldn’t pi$$ on them if they were on fire.
The joys of life at The Krankies.
Anyone watching the zoom conference that was leaked can see her shutting down questions about the funds
The Scots are known for their lax attitude to spending beyond their means and Nicola is qualified as a solicitor. Of course they didn’t realise that all these luxury purchases weren’t paid for out of a lottery win.
Clearly SNP leadership has been culpable since questions were first asked and brushed aside a decade ago. I never believe it when friends and partners claim not to know of criminal or despicable behaviour. I do t believe it in this case either.
What are the odds he won’t get a custodial sentence. Rape doesn’t qualify IC you turn up to court and say you didn’t realise she didn’t want it. Twice.
If he goes to gaol let’s anticipate he gets the full benefits of friendly cross culture fellow inmates. He deserves it.
Handy this case took so long and came to a conclusion just after elections so the DNP can persuade voters to forget about it before next time.
There are Electoral Rules about party financial affairs. There are rules about auditors. How was this missed. A politician on his own would not be able to conceal it. There must have been collusion.
If the auditors were not incompetent the false evidence and explanations must have been highly complex.
And she knew nothing about it?
Wow.
Classic exampleof the phrase “LYING COW”!
A cynic might say that it has been convenient to prosecute this case after the elections on 7th May, rather than before.
I don’t believe for a minute that his wife knew nothing about it.
How did they catch him, though, I wonder?
They showed her on the BBC news walking past a Jaguar parked on their drive. This was one of the cars he bought with the money he embezzled.
Now I don’t know about you but if I turned up with a new Jaguar, my wife would ask some questions.
Everything about this stinks like an old Jock strap…15 years, pour encourager les autres.
Are you paying attention, Miliband, Starmer, Rayner, Hermer, et al?
LOL.
Sturgeon is either bisexual, or a lesbian that married a bloke before she came to terms with her sexuality, or thought that being openly gay would harm her chances in politics, and has had at least one affair with another woman. This makes it easier to believe that they spent very little time together or spoke to each other that much and she might of not known what Murrel was doing or where he got all the money from.
I’ve no idea – what makes you think she’s not 100% heterosexual?
She said as much in a media interview: https://www.gbnews.com/politics/nicola-sturgeon-comes-out-sexuality-binary
Ah thanks – I hadn’t seen that.
And you believe a politician who needs to cover her tracks? That’s bold.
I was merely answering ToF’s question. Believe her? She’s an opportunist politician. I suspect she said what she did to make herself seem cool to the SNP and it’s supporters. She needs to seem cool in order to sell her memoirs. I really don’t care if she’s straight or as bent as a corkscrew. What she is is a nationalist and socialist – which is not a great combination – and not to be trusted.
Come to think of it, anything and socialist is not a great combination.
The haircut gives it away 🤣
She certainly has that look, yes
Murrel is also a homosexual, the whole thing was a sham marriage for political purposes.
It is plausible that Sturgeon didn’t know Murrel was on the take, as they weren’t actually a couple.
The timing of the case – two weeks AFTER the Scottish election is “interesting” though.
If that is so one wonders what the camper van was used for.
Have they both deceived the Scottish voters first two decades and leg them down very badly.
For and let. Ooops.
Camping in Murrel’s case.
I’m surprised he didn’t use some of the money to buy a cottage.
She didn’t understand that all the money he had to spend came from somewhere? Yet she’s a solicitor.
Pull the other leg, it’s got bells on.
Apparently he bought a pencil sharpener for over £100, which can of course be hidden. But how do you hide a motorhome from one’s beloved wife?
You park it on a different driveway, nudge nudge wink wink.
Is that a euphemism?
He hid it behind the pampas grass.
Yes, his 91 year old mother’s house.
I’m shocked and of course the timing of this, now that they are separated and she’s no longer a senior politician, is entirely coincidental.
…and, conveniently, after the Scottish Parliamentary elections.