Former SNP Chief Executive Jailed for Five Years and Three Months After Embezzling Party Funds

Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the Scottish National Party, was sentenced to five years and three months in jail after admitting he embezzled £400,310.65 from the party. Murrell, 61, used charge cards, bank transfers and fake invoices to buy cars, a motorhome, jewellery, cosmetics, stationery, games consoles, kitchenware and toiletries. The purchases occurred between 2010 and 2022.

His sentence was backdated to 25 May, the day he was remanded in custody after pleading guilty. Police Scotland opened the investigation in 2021 after questions were raised about £667,000 raised for a second independence referendum campaign. Officers initially examined potential fraud before uncovering Murrell's spending.

He was first arrested in April 2023, weeks after resigning over a dispute about membership figures. Police searched the Glasgow home he shared with Nicola Sturgeon and the party's Edinburgh headquarters. Sturgeon, who stepped down as first minister in March 2023, was arrested during the inquiry but later informed she was no longer under investigation.

She and Murrell announced last year that they were ending their marriage. Sturgeon has said she was "deceived, betrayed and lied to" and denied any knowledge of the wrongdoing. First Minister John Swinney, who appointed Murrell to the post in 2001, has apologised to party members.

Swinney described the conduct as an "overwhelming betrayal" and said he was "horrified," while rejecting calls for a further inquiry into the case.