Police photographs released to the media show the extent of former Scottish National party (SNP) chief executive Peter Murrell's compulsive spending habit, funded by embezzled party money. The images capture a vast array of unused luxury items, including Montblanc pens, Bremont watches, Le Creuset ramekins, and an Alessi teapot, all tagged with white police evidence labels.
Luxury Goods Found Unused
The haul includes 11 Montblanc pens, with a white gold version worth £4,225, still in their presentation boxes. Other items include a £2,400 Smythson two-person tea set, found in a cupboard, and a pair of Bremont watches priced at £4,555.25 and £4,795, still wrapped in cellophane. There were also nine unused tubes of Everbuild white one-hour decorator’s caulk, valued at £21.50 a dozen.
Many items were discovered in cupboards, desk drawers, or Murrell's garage and garden shed at the Glasgow home he shared with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon. Some were recovered from the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh, raided by police on the same day. An elaborate Netatmo wifi-enabled home weather station was found bolted to the garden fence, and a polished chrome Alessi teapot was located in Murrell's unused luxury motorhome parked at his mother's house in Fife.
Only a Fraction of the Total Theft
The recovered items represent only a small portion of the goods Murrell, 61, acquired through embezzlement. Detectives stated that many items were never recovered, including the infamous Lalique Feuilles salt and pepper grinders, priced at £2,618. Some goods were consumed or given away as gifts, with only presents to Sturgeon being returned after the police raid. Among those was a 9-carat gold and enamel pendant Murrell bought for her on Shetland, which she wore repeatedly.
In police interview clips released to the media, a detective challenged Murrell on spending more than £19,000 on luxury pens, calling it "quite frankly an outrageous amount of money to be spending on pens." Murrell did not respond.
Investigation Challenges
The investigation, known as Operation Branchform, lasted nearly three years and cost approximately £2 million. The complexity arose from verifying which items Murrell had bought, when, how, and with what money, involving numerous bank warrants and approaches to retailers outside the UK. The statement of evidence ran to 318 pages.
The probe began after a pro-independence activist, Sean Clerkin, filed a complaint in March 2021 alleging the SNP misused more than £600,000 in donations for a putative referendum campaign. Suspicion grew when a blogger, Wings Over Scotland, reported that money had disappeared from SNP accounts in October 2020. Detectives received over a dozen similar complaints from party members and donors.
Prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence of fraud against Sturgeon or the party, but they found evidence of embezzlement after discovering Le Creuset kitchenware. Murrell continued to embezzle and fake invoices for months after knowing police were investigating the party's finances.
