Former SNP chief Peter Murrell jailed for embezzling £400,000 of party funds
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has been jailed for more than five years for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
The 61-year-old used the money to make hundreds of extravagant purchases, including a £124,550 caravan, cars, jewellery, luxury homewares and designer stationery.
He also falsified accounting records and prepared false invoices to cover up his mistake.
Murrell pleaded guilty last month to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 over a 12-year period between August 2010 and October 2022.
He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
Judge Lord Young told Murrell he had committed “an offense of calculated dishonesty” by “numerous fraudulent acts over a 12-month period during your time as chief executive of SMP”.
He said the frequency and amount of crime increased over time.
He added: “You saw that you could not stop this attack and it was only the detection of the crime that put an end to it.”
Murrell’s lawyer, John Scullion KC, said his client had been living in “isolation” since his guilty plea.
“He lived in almost complete isolation for many months,” he told the High Court in Edinburgh.
He said his client had admitted the crime and had been “shunned” by his former colleagues.
Mr Scullion said he had become “an object of public ridicule” as a result of his acquisitions.
The court previously heard Murrell’s position allowed him to make direct cash transfers from the party’s main bank account, which held funds from “membership fees and donations paid by party members and other donors and legacies”.
Murrell also made a number of false expense claims, as well as multiple parties using his “charge card.”
He tried to evade suspicion by providing “misleading statements and/or accounting codes” to the party’s financial system, where he had direct access to purchases.
The court heard the robotic lawnmower purchased by Murrell for £3,070 was misidentified as “legal fees” in the SNP’s accounting software.
Silver wine coasters worth £3,500 were described as “leadership expenses”.
Murrell’s offending came to light after police began receiving complaints about possible mismanagement of the SNP’s finances in March 2021.
This led to an investigation in which police uncovered evidence of Murrell’s embezzlement.
Murrell’s guilty plea sparked intense scrutiny from his ex-wife Nicola Sturgeon, who denied knowing of his crimes and said she was “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.
The case also led to widespread calls for an investigation into Murrell’s misconduct.
More to follow…
