Peter Murrell, the estranged husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison after admitting to embezzling more than £400,000 from the Scottish National Party.
The former SNP chief executive misappropriated £400,310.65 between August 2010 and October 2022, using party funds for a range of personal purchases including a £124,550 motorhome, vehicles, jewellery, luxury household items and high-end stationery.
The court heard Murrell concealed the thefts by falsifying financial records, creating bogus invoices and submitting fraudulent expense claims while exercising control over party finances.
Sentencing him in the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Young described the offending as a deliberate and sustained breach of trust, carried out while Murrell held one of the most senior positions within the party. The judge said the crimes involved numerous fraudulent transactions and noted that the offending only stopped once it was uncovered. He added that the sentence should serve as a warning to senior officials tempted to abuse positions of authority.
Murrell’s prison term was reduced from a potential seven years after he entered a guilty plea. His lawyer told the court that Murrell intends to repay the full amount taken and has spent recent months living in near isolation after becoming estranged from former colleagues and a subject of public ridicule. He will be required to serve at least half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. The court also heard he has been assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.
Nicola Sturgeon has claimed she was unaware of the offending.
