Nicola Sturgeon’s husband bought 108 toilet rolls 48 hours before she urged the public not to panic buy during pandemic
The former Scottish first minister has said she feels like she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit”
Nicola Sturgeon's disgraced husband bought more than 100 toilet rolls just hours before she urged the public not to panic buy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Court documents have revealed that Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP, splurged £55.98 on 108 rolls of Andrex on March 7, 2020 as lockdown loomed.
Ms Sturgeon appeared in a press conference, just two days after Murrell bought the toilet roll, where she told Scots to "behave as rationally as possible" and "apply common sense".
Weeks later, while his estranged wife was trying to curb stockpiling in Scotland, Murrell purchased 144 bottles of Evian water and four packs of laundry detergent.
The former Scottish first minister has said she feels like she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” after Murrell pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh this week to embezzling £400,000 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022.
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Scottish politicians are calling for a parliamentary inquiry to answer questions about the embezzlement, such as whether it included public money and why the police investigation took so long.
Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "In my 20-odd years in the Parliament, I have never seen anything quite so significant in terms of a scandal.
"I think Nicola Sturgeon should genuinely apologise to those who made donations to the SNP for their independence Referendum fund, but she should apologise to the country, because what we've seen is SNP secrecy and cover-up.
"I say so not because she is responsible for her husband's crimes, but she did benefit from them. But actually, she should be held responsible as leader of her party and as the former First Minister, because she did block legitimate scrutiny.
"She did stop people from asking questions about party finances and had they been able to do so, that would have revealed the embezzlement and potentially the scale of it.
"Those who spoke out, they were bullied, they were intimidated. I mean, three members of your Audit and Finance Committee resign, your treasurer resigns and Nicola Sturgeon says there's nothing to see here.
"I think people in Scotland are really annoyed and angry and they lack trust now in politicians and our political institutions. As a result of this scandal, we need a parliamentary inquiry to actually restore that trust."
As well as his Covid stockpiling, Murrell 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.
Ms Sturgeon said the couple were both on high salaries and she thought their incomes would have supported anything she saw in her house.
She has insisted that she knew nothing about her husband's crimes.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Just to explain how our finances worked, we had separate bank accounts, I never had any access to his bank account, he didn’t have any to mine. Every month I would pass him a sum of money to cover my share of the household expenses and leave him to it.
“I absolutely didn’t know that he was committing crimes.”
The former first minister spoke of the “pain” and “bewilderment” she felt upon discovering that some of the gifts Murrell gave her had been purchased with money he embezzled, including a £425 necklace he bought for her from a shop in Shetland that she was often pictured wearing.
Murrell 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.
Ms Sturgeon also said she is “not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes”.
She said: “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.”