'I'm the man with the money': Peter Murrell's brag to jeweller before buying Nicola Sturgeon a necklace with SNP funds

The disgraced former SNP boss is understood to have bought his wife Nicola Sturgeon a gold pendant inspired by the Northern Lights when the couple visited Shetland Jewellery in July that year.

The claims have come to light a day after Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400k of party funds in a scandal that has rocked Scottish politics.

The £425 necklace is one of the items the former chief executive admitted buying with funds he swiped from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.

Read more: 'Angry, hurt, sad and very distressed': Nicola Sturgeon breaks silence after estranged husband admits embezzling £400k of SNP funds

Read more: Peter Murrell was one half of the most powerful political couple Scotland has seen - now he's behind bars

Ms Sturgeon is understood to have worn the necklace from the shop in some of her public appearances.

Other items purchased by Murrell with the embezzled money include a fitted library made by Neville Johnson Ltd, which cost more than £1,900.

Kenneth Rae, who ran Shetland Jewellery until his retirement, said he was working the day Murrell and Ms Sturgeon came into the shop on July 28 2019.

He said on Tuesday: "They came in and then Peter Murrell said, while his wife was in the workshop area, 'I’m the man with the money. I need to buy something.'

"We were happy he wanted to buy something. Nicola did wear that pendant quite often and you can see it on television and we’re very popular of the fact that she was wearing a bit of Shetland Jewellery."

Mr Rae said a few years later that two police officers came up from Glasgow to interview people in the workshop as part of their investigation.

He added: "We were surprised to hear that two policemen were coming up to Shetland to interview us specially about our sale of a gold pendant to Peter Murrell."

Ms Sturgeon has said she "had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds."

Ms Sturgeon said she was "angry, hurt, sad and very distressed" about the case.

In a separate statement released through her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon added: "In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all.

"Indeed in relation to the item of largest value – a campervan – I was not aware of its existence until it featured in the police investigation in early 2023, nor was it parked in our driveway as has been claimed by some.

"In respect of any items I was aware of Peter having purchased, I had no reason to doubt that he had used his own money.

"We were both earning high salaries and, due to the responsibilities of my job, rarely socialised or went on holidays. We had separate bank accounts and I had no access to his financial records."