Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband had admitted to using SNP funds to splash out on luxury goods, including a £124,000 motorhome, and two Bremont watches for a total of £9,35009:52, 23 Jun 2026Updated 09:56, 23 Jun 2026Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has been jailed(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has been jailed for five years and three months after embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP to bankroll his lavish lifestyle.Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband had admitted to using SNP funds to splash out on luxury goods, including a £124,000 motorhome, two Bremont watches for a total of £9,350, two Montblanc Boheme Noir fountain pens for £1,407 and a £3,500 Hamilton and Inches silver wine coaster.He also falsified accounting records and created fake invoices in a bid to cover up his wrongdoing.After pleading guilty, he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh, where Lord Young told the hearing the sentence would have been seven years if Murrell had not plead guilty.Peter Murrell arrived at court in a prison van (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)Sentencing, Lord Young said: “One factor in the sentence which I imposed today will be to act as a deterrent to any senior officials in other law large organisations who might be tempted to abuse their position in the way that you did.”I acknowledge that you’ve played an important and committed role within a very successful political party in Scotland, and the public coverage of your downfall will make future employment difficult, if not impossible.”I Impose a sentence of five years, three months imprisonment. I shall backdate that sentence to the 25th of May, 2026, when you first remanded in custody.”Court documents show he created a false invoice for £57,500 to buy a £81,277 Jaguar I-Pace, which he then sold for £47,378. He used £16,489 of SNP funds for a £32,989 Volkswagen Golf.He made some lower-end purchases, including £2.50 Neutrogena hand cream, staples for £4 and Chinese takeaway curry sauce paste for £12. He also splashed out on a £67 toilet seat, according to a 125-page list.His KC John Scullion said Murrell had “sufficient funds” to repay the £400,000 sum in full, and that his client has lived in “isolation” since his guilty plea.Murrell was first arrested in April 2023 as part of Operation Branchform – the police investigation into the SNP’s finances – and was charged in April 2024.Ms Sturgeon was married to Murrell for 15 years until the couple announced they had split last year. In a statement after his guilty plea, she said: “To be deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted has caused me acute pain. Why he acted as he did is, and always will be, beyond my comprehension.”To be clear: I had no knowledge or suspicion 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 were not my crimes. I was misled, just as others were.”Murrell and Ms Sturgeon were once one of the most powerful couples in UK politics. Ms Sturgeon was First Minister for eight years, and Murrell served as SNP chief executive for more than 20 years, until he stepped down in 2023 for misleading the media on party membership figures.The explosive news has rocked the SNP, with party leader and First Minister John Swinney issuing a grovelling apology to members, saying the “level of personal horror” he felt over Murrell’s crimes was “difficult for me to properly convey”.He said it was a “terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal by the man entrusted to be the party’s chief executive”. He added: “Today I feel the overwhelming anger felt by SNP members.”
