Crooked Peter Murrell treated himself to over £300 of household goods on his birthday with stolen SNP money. The conman was also accused of using nicked cash to buy a Kindle on his big day, but the allegation was struck off by prosecutors. Part of his plea deal also involved dropping claims he bought a shower head on the day of his dad's funeral.
Murrell is facing a jail term next week after he pled guilty to embezzling over £400,000 of SNP funds over a twelve year period as party chief executive. The estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon admitted stealing the cash to pay for two cars and a motorhome, as well as a host of luxury and everyday items for his own personal gain.
A copy of the indictment reveals the fraudster swindling his own party on his December 8th birthday. On that date in 2015, around a year after his wife became First Minister, the birthday boy purchased around £255 of tree wool bath sheets. In 2021, he welcomed his big day by shelling out £45.45 on a metal basket rolling cart. He also raided £112,050 from an SNP bank account on the day before his birthday in 2020 to help pay for the motorhome.
A plea deal agreed between the Crown Office and Murrell's legal team resulted in £58,735 of low-value goods getting axed from the case. These included a £169 Kindle, wooden hangers worth £16.99 and tealight holders worth £211.60, which were bought on his birthday in 2012, 2016 and 2018. The original indictment accused Murrell of spending £37.20 on a Mira shower head on November 18th, 2019. This was the same day as his late father Henry's funeral at the crematorium in Dunfermline. An obituary referred to him as a 'devoted' father to 'Peter' and a 'much loved father-in-law to Nicola'. The term of the plea deal revealed the shower head purchase was dropped by the prosecution.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: 'Peter Murrell didn't only lavish Nicola Sturgeon with gifts and trinkets bought with stolen SNP cash, he also liked to treat himself. These revelations appear to be further evidence that he was allowed to remove particularly embarrassing purchases from his charge sheet as part of the secretive plea deal process. And it again shows that Murrell thought he was untouchable, granted a licence to steal because Sturgeon, John Swinney and others failed to see anything suspicious and shut down any questions.'
Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said: 'Peter Murrell's birthday spending sprees raise yet more questions about how his theft went undetected for so long. If John Swinney and the SNP have nothing to hide, they should have nothing to fear from a Parliamentary inquiry, but last week they voted to block one and stop Scots getting the answers they deserve.'
It is understood Murrell may offer to pay back the stolen monies when he returns to court for sentencing next week. He is also under fire after successfully applying for legal aid to fund his defence despite being on a near six figure salary at the SNP. The SNP are also in talks with HMRC about whether they claimed back tax on Murrell's criminal purchases.
Party leader John Swinney said recently: 'The issues in relation to the implications of Peter Murrell's admission of guilt about the embezzlement of Scottish National Party funds does have potential implications in relation to the payment of taxation. It has been important that we proactively have raised these issues with HMRC in the light of what we now know about the criminal conviction.'
