Former SNP chief admits embezzling £400,000, spent on cars and luxury goods

Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s former husband, admitted in the High Court in Edinburgh that he embezzled £400,310.65 from the party, a theft that spanned from August 2010 to October 2022 and, in plea terms, was described as running from 2010 to 2023. He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on 23 June 2026.

The scale of the spending laid out in court exposed how party money was diverted not just into obvious luxury purchases but also into a stream of ordinary consumer goods. Among the biggest items was £124,550 for a Niesmann and Bischoff Smove 7.4E motorhome. Murrell also spent £57,500 toward an £81,277 Jaguar I-PACE, £16,489 toward a Volkswagen Golf, £9,350.25 on two Bremont watches, £4,225 on a Starwalker World Time fountain pen, £3,231.90 on a Jura Giga 5 Cromo coffee machine, £1,199 on a Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope and £42.99 on Grand Theft Auto V.

The indictment also described a catalogue of smaller items that made the case look as much like a breakdown in controls as a theft of one enormous sum. It included £247.42 on a PlayStation 3, £68.82 on two toilet seats, a copy of Women Hold Up Half The Sky: Selected Speeches of Nicola Sturgeon, designer manicure sets, DVDs of Borgen and The Killing, a designer bread bin, a Beatles special-edition pen set, a model helicopter, a Monopoly board game, a Royal Mint proof coin set, and other clothing and household goods.

Police Scotland said Murrell diverted the cash to bankroll a lavish lifestyle he could not afford and accused him of showing “utter contempt” for the trust placed in him. The force’s investigation into SNP finances began after a complaint in July 2021, then widened into a long-running probe that led to Murrell’s arrest in April 2023 and re-arrest in 2024. Sturgeon was also arrested during the inquiry but was cleared of wrongdoing in March 2025.

The political fallout cuts beyond one man’s conduct. Murrell ran the SNP for 24 years and, before the scandal, had given the party a loan of more than £100,000 to help with a cash-flow problem after the last election. After his guilty plea, Sturgeon said she had no knowledge or suspicion that he was using SNP funds for personal purposes and said she was appalled by his actions. Current leader John Swinney called the plea a terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal, while Scottish Labour said the SNP had tried to shut down scrutiny of its finances. The episode now leaves the party facing deeper questions about donor stewardship, internal oversight and how a governing movement failed to spot the misuse of its own money for more than a decade.