Ex-SNP chief pleads guilty to embezzling £460,000

The former chief executive of the Scottish National Party, Peter Murrell, has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly £460,000 from the party over a period of more than 12 years. Murrell, who ran the SNP for 22 years and is the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, admitted the charge at the High Court in Edinburgh, bringing to a close a police investigation that has dominated Scottish politics since it began in 2021.

The embezzlement took place between 2010 and 2023. Murrell used party funds to purchase goods worth approximately £140,000 from more than 90 retailers for his own personal use or for the personal use of others. He also bought a luxury motorhome for £124,550 with party cash, as well as a Jaguar I‑Pace, covering his tracks with false entries in the SNP’s accounts. The total amount misappropriated was nearly £460,000. The case emerged from Operation Branchform, a police investigation launched in July 2021 after complaints about how more than £600,000 in donations intended for a second independence referendum campaign had been spent.

The investigation became highly visible in April 2023 when police searched the Glasgow home Murrell shared with...