Peter Murrell accused of embezzling £459,000 from SNP, court papers show

The former chief executive of the Scottish National party (SNP) Peter Murrell has been accused of embezzling £459,000 from the party over a period of more than 12 years, according to court documents that emerged ahead of a hearing.Murrell, the ex-husband of the former first minister and party leader Nicola Sturgeon, is due to appear at the high court in Glasgow next Friday for a preliminary hearing in the case.Details of the charges, which accuse Murrell of embezzling £459,046.49 of party funds between 12 August 2010 and 13 January 2023, and illicitly purchasing items including luxury goods, jewellery, cosmetics, two cars and a motorhome, were first published in the Scottish Sun.According to documents seen by the newspaper, Murrell bought a Niesmann and Bischoff Smove 7.4e motorhome at a cost of £124,550 for his own personal use from a dealer in Stafford using SNP funds.He is also accused of creating “false” sales documents “in order to portray the purchase as a legitimate party expense” in the court papers.He is further accused of using £57,500 of SNP money towards the purchase of an £81,000 Jaguar I-Pace car in 2019.Further allegations include that Murrell made “false invoices” for a £12,042 payment to Apple Retail and £2,478 to the German retailer Manufactum, both for “purported business related” purchases. He is also accused of using SNP funds to pay a parking ticket, according to the documents seen by the Sun.Murrell, who served as the party’s chief executive for 22 years, made no plea during an initial appearance at Edinburgh sheriff court last year after which he was granted bail.He was arrested in 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, the Police Scotland investigation into SNP finances, and charged with embezzlement in April 2024. Sturgeon was also arrested and questioned by Police Scotland detectives in June 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, but later exonerated.In her memoir Frankly, published last August, Sturgeon described her “utter disbelief” when police raided her home in Glasgow and arrested Murrell. “With police tents all around it, it looked more like a murder scene than the place of safety it had always been for me. I was devastated, mortified, confused and terrified.”