Former First Minister Discusses £400,000 Embezzlement by Estranged Husband
Nicola Sturgeon, former first minister of Scotland, provided an exclusive and detailed interview to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg regarding the £400,000 embezzled by her estranged husband, Peter Murrell.
Over a period of 12 years, Murrell, who served as chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for more than two decades, used party funds to purchase over 1,000 items ranging from high-end coffee machines to a £124,000 campervan.
Below is a detailed background on key statements from the interview.
'We were two people on high salaries'
"None of these things [the purchases] I would have looked at and thought how on earth could he afford them? We were two people on high salaries. We don't have children. We didn't have an extensive social life, mainly because of the pressures of my job."
Peter Murrell stepped down as SNP chief executive in 2023 after more than 20 years in the role. His reported salary was £104,492 in 2011, decreasing to £79,750 by 2021.
Regarding Sturgeon, the SNP published her tax details covering 2014 to 2022. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, she had a gross income of £140,496 and paid just over £51,500 in income tax.
The documents also revealed that Sturgeon contributed substantial amounts annually to her pension. During her 27 years as a member of the Scottish Parliament and nine years as first minister, she contributed over £450,000 to her pension.
Sturgeon first released her tax returns publicly in 2016 following the Panama Papers revelations and encouraged other party leaders to do the same during a Q&A session in early February 2023.
At that session, she was questioned about Murrell's 2021 loan of £107,000 to the SNP to assist with cash flow after that year's Holyrood election campaign. Sturgeon stated she could not recall when she first learned of the loan and emphasized that "what he [Murrell] does with his resources is a matter for him."
'I asked why on earth he bought a campervan'
"When I found out about the campervan in early 2023. I asked him [Peter Murrell] why on earth he bought a campervan. And the explanation I got then was that this had been bought in advance of the 2021 election."
The motorhome was the largest purchase made by Murrell using SNP funds, both in value and size.
In late 2020, he acquired a luxury Niesmann and Bischoff Smove 7.4e motorhome from a Stafford dealership for £124,550.
Additionally, he purchased a steering wheel lock and wheel clamp for £168 a few months later.
The campervan was reportedly parked approximately 40 miles from the couple's residence near Glasgow. It remained outside Murrell's elderly mother's home in Dunfermline for two years before police impounded it.
After Sturgeon resigned as first minister, her successor Humza Yousaf stated he only became aware of the motorhome after assuming leadership, when the vehicle appeared on a police warrant to seize items from the party.
Prior to the Kuenssberg interview, Sturgeon's lawyer Aamer Anwar asserted that his client never noticed the 24-foot motorhome parked beside her mother-in-law's house during visits.
"On the question of the motorhome, armchair detectives might wish to turn back the clock, check Google Maps, replace a caravan with a motorhome, work out its dimensions, and 'speculate' if Ms Sturgeon could see through walls to the other side of the house, but that is entirely a matter for them."
'There was nothing ever in the accounts'
"There was no occasion that somebody came to me and said we're concerned that somebody is embezzling money from the SNP. And there was nothing ever in the accounts. If qualified auditors weren't able to see that when they approved the accounts I'm not sure how I or the national treasurer should have been able to see that."
In May 2021, Douglas Chapman, then MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, resigned as SNP national treasurer, citing insufficient information to perform his duties.
At that time, the then deputy first minister John Swinney told the BBC that party finances undergo extensive scrutiny.
He said the accounts were "independently audited by external auditors and are submitted to the electoral commission for scrutiny."
The SNP's 2021 financial accounts reported total income of £4,510,460, total expenditure of £5,262,032, assets valued at £1,630,454, and liabilities amounting to £1,055,689.
Electoral Commission regulations require parties with income or expenditure exceeding £250,000 to have their accounts independently audited and to include the audit report in submissions.
Johnston Carmichael, Scotland's largest independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisers founded in 1936, audited SNP finances for over ten years but resigned before Murrell's arrest, citing "a review of clients."
Following Johnston Carmichael, Manchester-based AMS Accounts Group managed the SNP's accounts, with Scottish firm MMG Chartered Accountants, recently merged with TC Group, currently auditing the party's finances.
Money and Assets
"I am not guilty of that embezzlement so nothing that belongs to me should be part of that. Rightly it should not be part of that."
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 provides the legal framework for freezing, seizing, and confiscating money and assets obtained through illegal activities.
A future special court hearing will address the recovery of the embezzled funds.
After former SNP MP Natalie McGarry was jailed in June 2022 for embezzling £25,000 from Women for Independence and the Glasgow Regional Association, she faced a proceeds of crime hearing 15 months later. The Crown accountant agreed on a payback amount of £66.36.
Fiscal Depute Brian Duffy stated at the time that the figure was "the only amount available to Miss McGarry towards the confiscation order."
Items such as the necklace Sturgeon said she loved wearing could be classified as "tainted gifts" and potentially seized. It is unclear if the pendant, purchased from Shetland Jewellery and valued at over £400, is currently in police possession.
The £124,000 campervan was seized in April 2023, one month after Murrell was first questioned, and placed in a police compound.
In June 2024, three months after Murrell was charged, the Daily Record reported that Scotland's lord advocate imposed a legal restriction preventing him from selling any property he owns, including the home he shares with Sturgeon.
The detached house in Baillieston, a residential suburb in east Glasgow, is valued at over £380,000.
