Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has stated she has not spoken to her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, since he was jailed for embezzling over £400,000 from the Scottish National Party (SNP). Murrell, 61, was the party's chief executive.
Sturgeon also indicated on a podcast that she would not visit Murrell in prison, expressing a feeling of being taken advantage of for continuing to care about him. She was speaking at the West Belfast Festival earlier this week.
Sturgeon has maintained her innocence, denying any knowledge of Murrell's crimes, which included using party funds for personal purchases such as a motorhome and dozens of luxury items. Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she told him that she was still learning about the extent of Murrell's actions even on the day he pleaded guilty.
Murrell was sentenced in June to more than five years in prison. Lord Young, in sentencing Murrell, said he had carried out a "calculated crime of dishonesty" but told the court he had been unable to identify a clear motive.
The former MSP recounted that she was discovering details of Murrell's spending of SNP money for the first time when he entered his guilty plea at the High Court in Edinburgh on May 25. "Over the years, he never really levelled with me," Sturgeon said. "The day he pled guilty, I was still learning about some of the detail of what he had done for the first time."
She added, "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."
The couple's Glasgow home was searched as part of Operation Branchform, a police investigation that also involved searches of the SNP's Edinburgh headquarters.
Murrell admitted to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 between August 12, 2010, and October 19, 2022. His most significant purchase was a £124,550 luxury motorhome, bought entirely with party funds in 2020. The vehicle had only been driven four miles when it was seized by police three years later. Earlier this week, it emerged that the SNP had written off the cost of the motorhome after its accounts were published by the Electoral Commission.
Other purchases made with party funds included a £3,223 coffee machine, a £3,000 robotic lawn mower, and £2,600 salt and pepper grinders.
Sturgeon also revealed that she was only informed about Murrell's intention to plead guilty a week before his court appearance on May 25. She stated that the revelation that he had been negotiating his plea for months felt like it "hit me like a tonne of bricks."
"He was still lying to me right up until the day he pled guilty," Sturgeon said. She described him as being isolated and uncommunicative during that period, leading her to worry about his well-being and 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."
She continued, "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 stepped down as First Minister in March 2023, was arrested in June 2023 but was later told that she was no longer under investigation. She announced her separation from Murrell last year.
The former first minister also hit out at JK Rowling during the appearance, in response to a social media post made by the author on Friday. In a post on X on Friday, Rowling described the former SNP leader as a "world-class misogynist" and accused her of being "profoundly disloyal" to her party following criticism of its election campaign in a new foreword for her book. Asked by Dale if she wanted an "amnesty" with the Harry Potter author, Sturgeon said she was not "at war." "She seems to be at war with me," she said. Rowling has been an outspoken critic of the former first minister, particularly since Sturgeon's attempt to reform gender recognition laws in 2022. Sturgeon commented on their disagreements, stating, "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."
