Nicola Sturgeon has revealed she has had no contact with her estranged husband Peter Murrell since he was jailed for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP during his time as the party's chief executive. Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the former first minister said she has no plans to visit him in prison and admitted she felt foolish for continuing to worry about his welfare.
Sturgeon has consistently maintained she had no knowledge of her husband's offending, which involved siphoning party funds towards a luxury motorhome and a string of high-end purchases. She told the podcast audience that even on the day Murrell entered his guilty plea, she was still uncovering fresh details about what he had done.
Asked directly whether she intended to visit him behind bars, Sturgeon was unequivocal.
No. I'm not going to speak to him, I'm not going to visit him.
She explained that despite being married to him for years, Murrell had kept her in the dark about the true extent of his conduct.
Over the years, he never really levelled with me.
The day he pled guilty, I was still learning about some of the detail of what he had done for the first time.
Murrell, 61, admitted his guilt earlier this year, with the case covering a theft period stretching from 2010 to 2022, according to a national broadcaster's report. He was ultimately sentenced to five years and three months in prison, a term backdated to 25 May 2026, the same source reports. Under standard release rules, Murrell will become eligible for parole once he has served roughly half of that sentence — a little over two years and seven months.
When Lord Young passed sentence in June, he characterised Murrell's actions as a calculated act of dishonesty, though he told the court he could not pinpoint a clear motive behind the offending. Separately, judges overseeing the case have described the conduct as a "gross breach of trust", according to international news coverage of the guilty plea.
Sturgeon, who stepped down as an MSP at the most recent Holyrood election, said the revelations had forced her to confront an unsettling truth about the man she had shared her life with.
I suddenly realised I had been living with somebody that I never really knew properly.
That's something for me to come to terms with, and I don't think I'm there yet, but also for my family to come to terms with. It's a really difficult process.
What did the police investigation uncover?
The couple's Glasgow home was among the properties searched by detectives as part of Operation Branchform, alongside the SNP's Edinburgh headquarters. That investigation into the party's finances also examined the conduct of senior SNP figures more broadly, though it was reported to have concluded without any charges being brought against Sturgeon herself, per background reporting on the police operation.
The single largest item Murrell bought with party money was a motorhome costing £124,550, paid for outright with SNP funds in 2020. By the time officers seized the vehicle three years later it had covered a mere four miles. It emerged this week that the SNP had written off the cost of the motorhome entirely, a detail that surfaced after the party's accounts were published by the Electoral Commission.
Beyond the motorhome, Murrell's spending spree extended to a £3,223 coffee machine, a £3,000 robotic lawn mower and a set of salt and pepper grinders costing £2,600, all funded through the party's coffers.
How did Sturgeon find out about the guilty plea?
Sturgeon disclosed that she only learned Murrell intended to plead guilty roughly a week before his court appearance on 25 May. It later transpired he had in fact been negotiating that plea for months beforehand — news she said left her reeling.
He was still lying to me right up until the day he pled guilty.
She described how Murrell had withdrawn from daily life in the run-up to his court appearance, rarely leaving home and growing increasingly uncommunicative, which had genuinely worried her at the time.
He was very isolated over that period, he very rarely left the house, he wasn't communicative, I was a bit worried about his well-being and his mental health.
And then, now I think: 'What a mug, why were you worried about him?' He didn't worry about me. He didn't worry at all about what he was doing.
What he has subjected me to is beyond anything I could ever have comprehended.
I don't understand why he did it, he had no need to do it, I don't think I will ever understand his motivations.
But whatever that motivation was, he could not have stopped and ever thought about me.
But I was, until recently, still worrying about him.
Sturgeon, who resigned as first minister in March 2023, was herself arrested in June of that year in connection with the wider investigation but was subsequently informed she was no longer under suspicion. She confirmed her separation from Murrell publicly last year.
What did Sturgeon say about JK Rowling?
During the same appearance, Sturgeon also addressed a pointed social media post from author JK Rowling published on Friday, in which Rowling branded her a "world-class misogynist" and accused her of being "profoundly disloyal" to the SNP over remarks made in a new foreword criticising the party's election campaign.
When Dale asked whether she would welcome a truce with the Harry Potter novelist, Sturgeon rejected the idea that any hostility was coming from her side.
She seems to be at war with me.
Rowling has repeatedly criticised the former first minister, particularly since Sturgeon pushed forward gender recognition reforms in 2022. Sturgeon acknowledged the pair remain divided on multiple fronts.
We disagree on more than one thing - we disagree about independence, we clearly disagree on trans rights.
My god, that woman is obsessed with me.
What happens next for Murrell?
Murrell's sentence, backdated to 25 May 2026, means he could be considered for parole after serving just over two years and seven months, according to reporting from a national broadcaster. A separate hearing to review the facts of the case had previously been scheduled for 2 June 2026, according to earlier coverage of the proceedings. The SNP continues to face scrutiny over its financial oversight following the revelations, with its accounts already showing the write-off of the motorhome purchase.
Key Facts
- Peter Murrell, 61, embezzled £400,310.65 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022.
- He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, backdated to 25 May 2026.
- He is eligible for parole after serving roughly two years and seven months.
- His purchases included a £124,550 motorhome, a £3,223 coffee machine and a £3,000 robotic lawn mower.
- Nicola Sturgeon says she will not visit or speak to Murrell in prison.
