Adamant Sturgeon 'not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes' after estranged husband pleads guilty to £400K embezzlement
An adamant Nicola Sturgeon said she feels like she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” after her estranged husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
Listen to this article
Murrell pleaded guilty this week to embezzling the sum from the SNP between 2010 and 2022.
The 61-year-old spent the money on items including a motorhome, cars, kitchen gadgets, expensive watches and pens, and more mundane purchases such as hand cream and toilet seats.
He is set to be sentenced in June, the same month that the SNP faces two by-election contests – one in Aberdeen South and another in Arbroath and Broughty Ferry.
The SNP has faced calls for an independent inquiry into its finances.
Ms Sturgeon was Scotland’s first minister from 2014 to 2023 while Murrell served as the SNP chief executive from 2001 to 2023.
In an interview on Sunday, Ms Sturgeon said she is “not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes”.
She said: “For my own sake, but for the sake of people out there, a lot of women who end up finding themselves blamed for the actions of the men in their lives, I’m not going to contribute to that kind of sense that I am responsible for somebody else’s crimes.
“I will take responsibility for the things I do, the decisions I make. I’m sitting here with you right now, answering questions because I believe strongly in that accountability.
“But I am not responsible for the crimes that my former husband committed and I’m not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes.”
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon's estranged husband Peter Murrell accused of embezzling £459,000 from SNP
Ms Sturgeon previously said she had been “completely cleared and exonerated” by police and that she had been lied to by her former husband.
“(Murrell) perpetrated a crime on the SNP,” she added.
“By definition, that included me as the party leader. He misled. He deceived.
“He is serving and will be serving a sentence for a crime he committed. I’m out here feeling as if I’m serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit.”
'Worst week of my life'
Earlier this week, addressing the public for the first time since his guilty plea, Ms Sturgeon said: “This has been probably the worst week of my life.
“You’re coming to terms with the fact that you spent many years married to somebody that, as it turns out, I obviously didn’t know at all.
“It’s a really painful truth to process, and I think I’m only in the very early stages of processing it. And then to be in a position of such public turmoil myself makes that even harder.”