Murrell used SNP cards for £400,000 spending spree

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell used charge cards, bank transfers and fake invoices to embezzle more than £400,000 from the party, it has been revealed.

Murrell, the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, used the funds to illicitly purchase goods including jewellery, cosmetics, two cars and a motorhome over a 12-year period.

The 61-year-old, who served as SNP chief executive for more than 20 years, faces a lengthy jail term after pleading guilty last week. He is due to be sentenced on 23 June.

Murrell, who is currently on remand at HMP Edinburgh, was led into the city's high court in handcuffs for a hearing setting out the agreed timeline of his crimes.

The court heard that Murrell used his SNP charge card, as well as those of two other staff members, to make purchases.

He also used direct bank transfers from the SNP account, which was primarily made up of membership fees, donations and funds left for the party in people's wills.

The former SNP chief executive had direct access to the accounting system and could log purchases himself, though the court heard that the majority of such work was carried out by a staff member under his direction.

Murrell was first arrested in April 2023, a few weeks after resigning as SNP chief executive following a row about membership figures.

The Glasgow home he shared with Sturgeon was searched as part of the police operation, as was the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.

Of the more than 1,000 items listed in the court indictment, the majority were not found during police raids.

Officers did find a custom wooden library, a robotic lawnmower, a bathroom "vanity unit", a kitchen unit for the boiler and fitted mats at Sturgeon and Murrell's home.

Most notably, they seized a £124,550 motorhome from Murrell's mother's house in Dunfermline.

The luxury Niesmann and Bischoff vehicle was ordered in October 2020, with Murrell paying a £12,500 deposit with an SNP charge card.

The court heard he paid the remaining balance of £112,050 in four direct transfers from the SNP account in December 2020.

The motorhome was delivered to Halbeath Industrial Estate in January 2021, with Murrell driving it the short distance to his mother's house. When it was seized by police two years later, it had only ever been driven four miles.

Murrell created a false invoice for the vehicle, changing the customer address and account name. He also edited the description of the vehicle to a van, with security and navigation systems and a television removed from the financial record.

Murrell is said to have told colleagues that the motorhome could have been used for campaigning purposes. It was not.

He was the sole insured driver of the vehicle, and only for "social, domestic and pleasure purposes".

The day after he bought the motorhome, Murrell ordered a three guides to "inspirational journeys" around Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland in a camper van or motorhome.

In early 2016, the former SNP chief executive made a direct transfer of £16,498 from the party's account to buy a £33,000 Volkswagen Golf.

In September 2019, he traded in that vehicle to buy a an £81,000 Jaguar I-PACE, with the rest of the balance paid using fraudulent expense claims and false invoices.

The hearing also revealed that Murrell:

Murrell's lawyer suggested to the court that his client would be able to repay the sum of the embezzlement.

Sturgeon - who formed a formidable political partnership with her husband during her nine years as party leader and first minister between 2014 and 2023 - has denied any knowledge of Murrell's crimes or covering up wrongdoing.

She stepped down as first minister in March 2023 and was arrested as part of the investigation about 10 weeks later. The ex-SNP leader was told by police last year that she was no longer under investigation.

The former first minister added that it was "round the sides of the house which is not immediately visible in the way that we went into the home".

Sturgeon said that when she asked Murrell about the vehicle following its seizure, he had told her it was bought to be used by the party in the 2021 Holyrood election.

First Minister John Swinney, who served as Sturgeon's deputy in government throughout much of Murrell's offending, said he was "gutted and utterly devastated" following the latest court hearing.

He told reporters that there had been a "colossal breach of trust".

Swinney said that while the party's systems were "robust", there had "not been in every respect adequate controls in place".

The first minister, who took on the SNP leadership in 2024, said that financial controls had been strengthened.

He has resisted calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the case, arguing that it would not shed more light on the crimes than a thorough police investigation.

Concerns about the party's finances were raised in 2021, when several senior party officials - including a former treasurer - resigned because they were not given access to key financial documents.

Sturgeon and Swinney have both denied shutting down such concerns.

Analysis: We know the how, but not the why

What stands out from the Crown narrative is Murrell's persistence, his cynicism and his devious tactics.

It reveals how he used his privileged access to the SNP's accounting system to feather his own nest in a whole range of ways - with credit cards, SNP charge cards and direct transfers of money.

That may go some way towards explaining how the SNP's auditors, party officials and his estranged wife Nicola Sturgeon apparently failed to spot his criminal activities over many years.

He put false data into the system and claimed embezzled funds were for humdrum party purposes. This was enough to fool enough people, for enough of the time, to get away with more than £400,000.

So now we know how he did it.

But we still don't really understand why.

He's yet to say - and the Crown narrative sheds no light on that. Perhaps he'll offer some explanation to the court, before he's sentenced later this month.