Peter Murrell embezzled over £400,000 of SNP funds on luxury and everyday items

A court is set to hear more details about how former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell embezzled goods worth more than £400,000 using the party's money.

More than 100 pages of court documents have already been released showing the wide range of items he bought over a 12-year period.

That list includes more than 1,000 items, from luxury goods and a £124,550 motorhome to everyday purchases like hand cream.

Ahead of today's hearing, BBC Scotland has analysed the scale and timing of Murrell's illegal purchases – and produced a searchable list of all the goods he admitted buying.

What did Murrell buy with stolen SNP funds?

Murrell's embezzlement began with the purchase of two Ali Baba laundry baskets from Amazon in August 2010 - just one month after his wedding to Nicola Sturgeon.

Court documents show that after this £70.89 outlay Murrell made a total of 1,066 purchases using embezzled SNP cash between 2010 and October 2022.

The variety of goods is striking, ranging from the ostentatious - Lalique salt and pepper grinders priced at £2,618 - to the mundane, like Loctite super glue costing £3.50.

Records show that on 4 July 2016 Murrell bought a pair of Montblanc cufflinks for £215.

Six days later the ex-SNP chief executive was pictured at the men's final of the Wimbledon tennis tournament alongside his then wife Sturgeon, who was Scotland's first minister. Murrell was wearing cufflinks which look similar to the ones purchased.

Murrell's purchases in pictures

Getty Images

X/Nicola Sturgeon

The list of stolen items also includes more than £2,000 of goods from Norwegian outdoor clothing brand Helly Hansen.

Murrell was pictured wearing this style of jacket on a number of occasions.

Elsewhere, there are a number of pictures of Sturgeon using expensive Montblanc pens which look similar to the ones that appear on Murrell's list of stolen items.

Other images from media interviews at the Murrell and Sturgeon's former home show what appear to be the same coffee machine model - a £1,299 Miele CM 6300 machine - as the ones purchased by Murrell.

In addition, a £943 library ladder that appears on the list of goods purchased by Murrell is also visible in pictures taken in their home.

Murrell also made 79 purchases in the run up to Christmas between 2010 and 2021.

These range from computer and gaming technology, including a Nintendo DSi XL Console and Grand Theft Auto V for the PS4; two Vtriker kids scooters; a men's Slouch Pouch onesie; DVDs of US crime drama series The Killing; and the book A Gentleman in Moscow.

However, it is not known if these were gifts.

When did Murrell's spending peak?

Murrell was appointed SNP chief executive in 2001 but his criminal behaviour did not start until nine years later.

Court documents show that the spending started off at a relatively low level but began to increase in 2013 and 2014, the year of the Scottish independence referendum.

By 2016 it had risen dramatically with the purchase of more than 100 items worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Nearly 300 items were purchased in the years covering the Covid pandemic but the level of spending peaked in 2020.

This was the year Murrell bought a luxury Niesmann and Bischoff Smove 7.4e motorhome for £124,550.

The day after buying this vehicle the ex-SNP executive ordered a book titled Take the Slow Road: Inspirational Journeys Round England and Wales by Camper Van and Motorhome – one of three he bought on the subject.

In the following months he bought accessories such as awning screw-in pegs for £15.98 and wheel clamps and keys for £119.98.

2020 was also the year when the first questions were raised by activists and SNP MPs, who asked what had happened to the £600,000 in donations to the SNP that was meant to be ringfenced for independence campaigning.

The spending continued, but at a much lower rate, after these concerns were raised and in June 2021 Murrell gave the party a loan of £107,620.

Police Scotland launched the Operation Branchform investigation into the SNP's finances the following month.

But the embezzlement only ended in October 2022 with the purchase of two plastic food containers.

Murrell resigned as SNP chief executive in March 2023.

A breakdown of where the money went

Big ticket items like the motorhome and the Jaguar car account for a significant chunk of Murrell's spending but that aside, most of his money went on goods for the home.

Other assorted purchases included:

a Caran d'Ache pencil sharpener (£110)

a PerfectDraft starter kit (£174) alongside kegs of Jupiler, Leffe and Stella Artois

a GoPro camera (£479)

a Royal Mint Scottish silver unicorn coin (£795)

and three Davek Savile umbrellas (£975)

It also shows the majority of items cost less than £100.

It is not known what the SNP's internal procedures were for signing off party expenditure but it is common for most organisations to allow senior bosses to spend up to a certain amount of cash without prior approval.