Nicola Sturgeon has not spoken to Peter Murrell since his imprisonment for SNP embezzlement

Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that she has not spoken to her estranged husband since he was imprisoned for embezzling over £400,000 from the Scottish National Party while serving as its chief executive. Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the former first minister stated firmly that she would not visit 61-year-old Peter Murrell in prison and confessed that she felt like a mug for continuing to care about his well-being.

Sturgeon maintained she had no prior knowledge of his unlawful activities, which involved utilizing party funds to acquire a luxury motorhome and dozens of high-end commodities. During her appearance at the festival, she explained that she was still uncovering the extent of Murrell's actions on the very day he entered a guilty plea at the High Court in Edinburgh on May 25, noting that he had never been truly honest with her over the course of their marriage.

Court records showed that Murrell admitted to embezzling a cumulative sum of £400,310.65 between August 12, 2010, and October 19, 2022. His single largest acquisition was a luxury motorhome costing £124,550, purchased entirely using party reserves in 2020, which had only been driven four miles by the time police seized it three years later. Additional luxury items funded through party accounts included a £3,223 coffee machine, a £3,000 robotic lawn mower, and salt and pepper grinders exceeding £2,600. Earlier this week, the SNP officially wrote off the motorhome expense following the publication of accounts by the Electoral Commission.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

Sturgeon told the audience that she only discovered her husband was planning to plead guilty just a week before his initial public court appearance, despite negotiations having taken place over several months, an admission she described as hitting her like a ton of bricks. She described him as deeply isolated and uncommunicative during the period leading up to the court date, noting her concerns for his mental health while she remained entirely unaware of the magnitude of his deception. Sturgeon stepped down as first minister in March 2023 and was subsequently arrested in June 2023 before being released without charge.