Nicola Sturgeon's estranged husband jailed for embezzling £400,000 of SNP funds
Peter Murrell jailed for five years after embezzling £400,000 of SNP funds
He used the funds to buy a range of luxury items, including a motorhome.
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Add us as preferred source Comments By Charlie Bradley, Content Editor 09:58, Tue, Jun 23, 2026 Updated: 10:00, Tue, Jun 23, 2026 
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell is due to be sentenced after he admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
The 61-year-old used the funds to make hundreds of extravagant purchases, including a £124,550 motorhome, cars, jewellery, luxury homewares and designer stationery.
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He also falsified accounting records and created fake invoices in a bid to cover up his wrongdoing.
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Murrell last month pleaded guilty to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 over a 12-year period between August 2010 and October 2022.
He is currently being held on remand and is expected to arrive at the High Court in Edinburgh in the back of a prison van to be sentenced by judge Lord Young.
Proceedings for recovering the embezzled funds are also expected to be discussed as part of the hearing.
The court previously heard Murrell’s role enabled him to make direct transfers of cash from the party’s main bank account, which held funds from “membership fees and donations paid by party members and other donors and legacies”.
Murrell also used multiple party “charge cards”, as well as making a number of false expense claims.
He tried to dodge suspicion by giving his purchases “misleading descriptions and/or accounting codes” in the party’s finance system, to which he had direct access.
The court heard a robotic lawnmower, which was purchased by Murrell for £3,070, was misdescribed as “legal fees” in the SNP’s accounting software.
A silver wine coaster worth £3,500 was described as “leadership expenses”.
Murrell’s offending came to light after police began receiving complaints about potential mismanagement of the SNP’s finances in March 2021.
This led to an investigation, during which police uncovered evidence of Murrell’s embezzlement.
Murrell’s guilty plea has led to intense scrutiny for his former wife Nicola Sturgeon, who has denied knowing of his crimes – saying she was “deceived, misled and betrayed”.
The former SNP leader said she has been “completely exonerated” after a “two-year-long, very forensic police investigation” which saw police officers search the home she and Murrell had shared.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested and questioned as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, which was known as Operation Branchform, but Police Scotland confirmed she would face no action.
The case has also led to widespread calls for inquiries into Murrell’s wrongdoing.
Former first minister Lord Jack McConnell said a joint inquiry by both Holyrood and Westminster committees should examine the matter.
Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie also called on Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to initiate an inquiry.
The Scottish Government has resisted calls for a parliamentary inquiry and a Labour motion calling for a probe was rejected earlier this month by a majority of MSPs.
John Swinney had previously said an inquiry was unnecessary given the detailed nature of the police investigation.
The Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster has considered launching its own probe into the matter.
As well as this, the committee has written to authorities at the Commons in a bid to determine how much short money – public cash given to opposition parties to help them fulfil their duties – was given to the SNP over the period of Murrell’s crimes.
The committee also asked about the “safeguards which exist to mitigate the risk of the misuse of short money”.
MORE UPDATES TO FOLLOW...
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
