Nicola Sturgeon’s spouse Peter Murrell has been jailed for five years and three months after he admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP party.

Last month, the 61-year-old former SNP chief executive admitted siphoning off the huge sum from SNP funds over a 12-year period. 

Murrell – estranged husband of former First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon – falsified accounting records and created fake invoices in a bid to cover up his wrongdoing.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Young told Murrell he had committed a ‘calculated crime of dishonesty’, with a ‘large number of fraudulent acts over a 12-year period while you were chief executive officer of the SNP’.

Murrell used the funds to make hundreds of extravagant purchases, including a £124,550 motorhome, cars, jewellery, luxury homewares and designer stationery.

He also falsified accounting records and created fake invoices in a bid to cover up his deceit.

Peter Murrell in a prison van as he arrived at Edinburgh High Court for sentencing. He was jailed for five years and three months – but would have got seven years if he had not pleaded guilty

After sentencing, security staff put Murrell in cuffs before he was taken away to prison

Nicola Sturgeon says she was ‘betrayed’ by her husband, who she is now estranged from

Lord Young said the offending increased in frequency and amount over time.

He added: ‘You found yourself unable to stop this offending, and it was only the detection of the crime that brought it to an end.’

Murrell’s lawyer John Scullion KC told the High Court that since his client’s guilty plea, ‘for many months he has lived in almost total isolation’.

He said Murrell accepted blame and he had been ‘ostracised’ by his former colleagues.

Mr Scullion said he had become a ‘figure of public ridicule’ as a result of his actions, and he recognised the harm he had caused.

‘In my submission, the accused is now an individual overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment and shame,’ Mr Scullion told Judge Lord Young.

A nine-page account of Murrell’s extensive offending was read out by prosecutor Alan Cameron KC.

The court heard how a 24ft motorhome costing more than £124,550, which Murrell paid for using stolen cash, had just four miles on the clock when it was seized by police.

And Murrell spent nearly £43,000 on goods from Amazon – with almost all of them delivered to the home he shared with his wife on the outskirts of Glasgow.

A £3,500 silver wine coaster was among items listed as ‘leadership expenses’. 

The prosecutor also discussed the purchase of the motorhome by Murrell. Mr Cameron said it was described as a ‘van’ when the invoice was filed. He added: ‘It was never used or seen by any other party member or employee.’

The court previously heard Murrell’s role enabled him to make direct transfers of cash from the SNP’s main bank account, which held funds from ‘membership fees and donations paid by party members and other donors and legacies’.

Murrell also used multiple party ‘charge cards’, as well as making a number of false expense claims.

He tried to dodge suspicion by giving his purchases ‘misleading descriptions and/or accounting codes’ in the party’s finance system, to which he had direct access.

Murrell’s offending came to light after police began receiving complaints about potential mismanagement of the SNP’s finances in March 2021.

This led to an investigation, during which police uncovered evidence of Murrell’s embezzlement.

Murrell’s guilty plea has led to intense scrutiny for his former wife Nicola Sturgeon, who has denied knowing of his crimes – saying she was ‘deceived, misled and betrayed’.

The former SNP leader said she has been ‘completely exonerated’ after a ‘two-year-long, very forensic police investigation’ which saw police officers search the home she and Murrell had shared.

Ms Sturgeon was arrested and questioned as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, which was known as Operation Branchform, but Police Scotland confirmed she would face no action.

The case has also led to widespread calls for inquiries into Murrell’s wrongdoing.

Former first minister Lord Jack McConnell said a joint inquiry by both Holyrood and Westminster committees should examine the matter.

Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie also called on Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to initiate an inquiry.

The Scottish Government has resisted calls for a parliamentary inquiry, and a Labour motion calling for a probe was rejected earlier this month by a majority of MSPs.

John Swinney had previously said an inquiry was unnecessary given the detailed nature of the police investigation.

The Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster has considered launching its own probe into the matter.

As well as this, the committee has written to authorities in the Commons in a bid to determine how much short money – public cash given to opposition parties to help them fulfil their duties – was given to the SNP over the period of Murrell’s crimes.

The committee also asked about the ‘safeguards which exist to mitigate the risk of the misuse of short money’.