Peter Murrell jailed for 5 years for embezzling over £400,000 from SNP

Former Scottish National Party chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for five years and three months on Tuesday after admitting to embezzling more than £400,000 ($540,000) from the party. The offenses took place over a 12-year period.

The case rocked the SNP and drew former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell’s ex-wife, into a lengthy police investigation, although she was later cleared of wrongdoing.

The 61-year-old spent the stolen funds on hundreds of luxury purchases, including a £124,550 ($168,000) motorhome, a Jaguar SUV, jewelry, Montblanc pens, luxury watches, homeware, and designer stationery. He concealed the thefts by falsifying accounting records, entering false accounting codes in the SNP’s accounts, and submitting fake invoices, allowing him to embezzle a total of £400,310.65 ($540,400) over 12 years.

Murrell, who pleaded guilty last month, was sentenced at Edinburgh High Court, where Judge Lord Young described it as a “calculated crime of dishonesty” and a “significant breach of trust” against the SNP and its donors. Young said the fraud became more frequent and involved larger sums over time, adding that Murrell was “unable to stop this offending” and that it only ended when it was detected.

Murrell’s lawyer, John Scullion KC, said his client accepts full responsibility for the crimes and recognizes that a prison sentence is “entirely deserved.”

Murrell’s crimes came to light during a police investigation into the SNP’s finances that was launched in 2021 after complaints about the party’s handling of funds. Detectives subsequently uncovered evidence that the party’s longtime chief executive systematically diverted money for personal use while concealing the thefts through false accounting entries and fake invoices.

Party sources said Murrell faced an allegation of theft in the late 1980s when he was accused of stealing around £500 ($675) while working for former SNP leader Alex Salmond, then an MP. The matter was not disclosed to John Swinney, who appointed Murrell as chief executive in 2001.

The case cast a shadow over Sturgeon, who led the SNP for nearly a decade and was arrested and questioned as part of the police probe known as Operation Branchform. Police later said she would not face any action. Sturgeon denied having any knowledge of Murrell’s offenses, saying she was “deceived, misled and betrayed” and was “completely exonerated” by the investigation.