Peter Murrell, ex-husband of Nicola Sturgeon, admits embezzling over £400,000 from SNP funds in a long-running probe.
LONDON: The estranged husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon on Monday pled guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 ($540,000) from the pro-independence Scottish National Party in a years-long probe into the party’s finances.
Sturgeon, the former head of Scotland’s devolved administration in Edinburgh, quit as SNP leader and first minister in February 2023.
Her husband Peter Murrell was arrested in April that year after officers searched the home he shared with Sturgeon near Glasgow, as part of an investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Murrell, 61, who was the SNP’s chief executive from 2001 to 2023, was remanded in custody at the Edinburgh High Court ahead of his sentencing scheduled for June 23.
Judge James Young said Murrell was responsible for a “gross breach of trust” for embezzling offences between August 2010 and October 2022.
A once-prominent figure in the SNP, Murrell’s arrest had sent shockwaves through Scotland’s ruling party, subject of the lengthy investigation over the diversion of £600,000 in SNP donations that were meant to support its independence campaign.
Sturgeon was herself arrested in June 2023 over claims of mismanagement of SNP finances and questioned for seven hours before being released without charge.
Sturgeon, who was cleared in the probe last year, announced in January 2025 that she and Murrell had separated.
She stepped down as a lawmaker earlier this year, ending a near 30-year career as one of the independence movement’s main figureheads.
