Former Scottish National Party (SNP) chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for just over five years on Tuesday after admitting to embezzling just over 400,000 pounds (roughly €465,000 or $530,000 at current exchange rates) of party funds to buy items including a motorhome, cars and luxury household goods.
Murrell, 61, is the now-estranged husband of former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who suddenly resigned as Scotland's First Minister in 2023, a few months before she was arrested as part of the probe into the party's finances. She was cleared of wrongdoing in March last year.
The couple's dual role within the SNP, with Sturgeon as its most senior politician for almost a decade and Murrell in charge of party administration, had prompted questions of propriety even before the crimes became public knowledge.
For around a decade, Sturgeon and Murrell were quite literally the power couple of Scottish politicsImage: Andrew Milligan/empics/picture alliance
What was the case about?
