Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP), was jailed for just over five years on Tuesday after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 (about €465,000 or $530,000 at current exchange rates) of party funds to buy items including motorhomes, cars and luxury home goods.
Murrell, 61, is the now-estranged husband of former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who abruptly resigned as Scotland’s First Minister in 2023, just months before she was arrested as part of an investigation into the party’s finances. He was acquitted of wrongdoing in March last year.
The couple’s dual roles within the SNP, with Sturgeon being its most senior politician for almost a decade and Murrell in charge of party administration, had raised questions of propriety even before the crimes became public.
What was the matter about?
Murrell pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh last month to embezzling SNP funds between 2010 and 2023, using the money to buy a Volkswagen and later a Jaguar, as well as items from luxury brands such as Estée Lauder and Harrods and LeCruise.
Judge Andrew Young on Tuesday sentenced him to five years and three months in prison.
“Your actions involved a significant breach of trust, both to the organization you led, and to individual members and donors,” Young told Murrell in court.
The judge said, “This was a premeditated crime of dishonesty. Let me make it clear to you that one aspect of the sentence I am imposing today will be to act as a deterrent to any senior executives in other large organizations who might be tempted to abuse their position in the manner you did.”
The authorities will now seek to recover the embezzled funds through criminal legal action proceedings.
“In reality, it’s very difficult to get a clear picture of the reasoning behind your actions,” Young said. “Many of the high-value items you acquired weren’t even used.”
The case raised embarrassing questions for the pro-independence party, which has dominated Scottish politics for almost two decades. However, thanks to the struggles of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Labour, the SNP was able to rally and remain the strongest party in the Scottish Parliament elections last month.
How did Sturgeon react to the news?
While Sturgeon was cleared of any wrongdoing by police and prosecutors last year, questions remain over her claim that she had “no knowledge or suspicion that she was using SNP funds for personal purposes.”
Small but low-value items associated with the case – such as a pendant she often wore in public and a political entertainment DVD box set of the Danish show “Borgen”, which she said she loved – appear to have been linked to Sturgeon.
Her claim that when she visited her husband’s parents she did not see a new luxury motorhome worth more than £100,000 parked in their driveway was met with skepticism by some.
Through her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, Sturgeon issued her final statement on the case following Tuesday’s sentencing.
“Although anonymous sources have tried desperately to uncover the crime, after two years of a thorough and robust investigation it is clear that Ms Sturgeon was neither charged, prosecuted, nor convicted of a crime,” the statement said.
“Ms Sturgeon is innocent of any crimes and although it may be troubling to some people, it is a fact that it was Mr Murrell who was charged, tried, convicted and jailed for his crimes today.”
The statement said the former First Minister had been “completely betrayed and let down by her husband, whom she trusted.”
The 56-year-old announced her separation from Murrell in early 2025.
Murrell’s lawyer, John Scullion, told the court that the former political activist had been ostracized by his previous colleagues amid the scandal.
“For several months he has been living in almost complete isolation,” he told the court.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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