Nicola Sturgeon’s ex-husband Peter Murrell back in court after admitting £400,000 SNP embezzlement

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell is back in court for a further hearing after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.

Murrell was brought to the High Court in Edinburgh in a white prison van, where prosecutors laid out the facts of the case.

He was sitting in the back, wearing a dark suit and no tie.

Judge Lord Young will hear the prosecution’s “narrative” when the case opens on Tuesday.

The 61-year-old, who is the ex-husband of Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, is expected to be sentenced in late June.

On Monday last week he admitted embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.

Court documents revealed a long list of items he purchased with the money he embezzled; These included a space telescope, DVDs, a home library ladder worth more than £900 and a coffee machine worth around £3,232.

Among the purchases were two cars and a caravan worth £124,550.

Murrell’s guilty plea sparked intense scrutiny from his ex-wife, Ms Sturgeon, who denied knowing of his crimes and said she had been “deceived, misled and betrayed”.

The former SNP leader said he was “fully exonerated” after a “two-year, highly forensic police investigation” in which officers searched the home he and Murrell shared.

Ms Sturgeon was arrested and questioned as part of a police investigation into the SNP’s finances, known as Operation Branchform, but Police Scotland confirmed she would not face any action.

At the weekend, the former prime minister told the BBC: Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg He feels like he’s “punishing for a crime I didn’t commit.”

Murrell’s guilty plea also led to calls for an independent investigation into the SNP’s finances.

Former first minister Lord Jack McConnell said a joint investigation by both Holyrood and Westminster committees should examine Murrell’s embezzlement.

Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie called on Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to launch an investigation.

But current SNP leader and first minister John Swinney said there was no need for such an investigation, highlighting the detailed nature of the police investigation.

He told the Press Association last week: “The police investigation led to a criminal case.

“A prosecution has been opened, a criminal complaint has been filed and as a result, punishment will be imposed.

“So all of these issues were considered.

“We know what the problem was; the problem was criminal behavior and the police identified that and the person involved was prosecuted.”