A local resident has cast doubt on Nicola Sturgeon's claim she knew nothing about a £125,000 campervan bought by her embezzler husband.
The former Scottish first minister and SNP leader has said she had 'no knowledge' that personal items were purchased by Peter Murrell, her ex-partner, with SNP funds.
Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and Ms Sturgeon's estranged husband, on Monday pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party.
Following his guilty plea, an extraordinary shopping list of the items he purchased with the money was revealed in court papers.
He used the cash to buy the campervan and other luxury goods including Lalique salt and pepper grinders worth £2,600, and £200 Fortnum and Mason advent calendars.
Ms Sturgeon this week said she was 'not aware' of the existence of the campervan until it featured in a police investigation.
But the vehicle is said to have been parked at Ms Sturgeon's mother-in-law's house in Dunfermline, Fife, for two years before it was seized by police in April 2023.
And local resident Ryan-Thomas Quinn said he saw Ms Sturgeon on a shopping trip at an Asda six minutes by car from Margaret Murrell's home in autumn 2022.
Mr Quinn told The Telegraph: 'I just find it unbelievable that clearly she was at her mother-in-law's house, and she didn't think to ask her the question, 'Where did the campervan on the driveway come from?''
The 18-year-old said Ms Sturgeon had told another shopper she had family living in Dunfermline.
He also said he often walked past Mrs Murrell's home in 2022 and that the motorhome was 'always on the driveway'.
Mr Quinn, a journalism student and Labour activist, added he would have 'nothing to gain' politically from fabricating Ms Sturgeon's Dunfermline visit as the SNP has just won another five years in power at Holyrood.
He posted on X earlier this week: 'It was parked on your ex-mother-in-law’s driveway, in 2022, when I seen you in Asda Halbeath (Dunfermline) buying dinner to take over to her house. Didn’t you think to ask where it came from?'
In a statement released through her lawyer this week, Ms Sturgeon said she and Murrell had separate bank accounts and she had no access to his financial records.
'I want to reiterate that I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds,' she said.
'I was cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation.'
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.'
Ms Sturgeon's lawyers are reported not to have contested that the Dunfermline visit in 2022 had taken place.
But sources told the newspaper it would not be obvious which property the campervan - said to have been parked between Mrs Murrell's home and that of her neighbours - belonged to.
They claimed it might not have been visible if Mrs Murrell's bungalow was approached from the front.
A £425 necklace is also one of the items Murrell admitted buying with funds he embezzled from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.
He is understood to have bought Ms Sturgeon the 9ct gold pendant inspired by the Northern Lights when the couple visited Shetland Jewellery in July 2019.
Murrell reportedly told a jewellery shop owner, 'I'm the man with the money,' when he visited.
Ms Sturgeon was seen wearing the pendant necklace on several occasions that summer and in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
The former first minister announced that she and Murrell had decided to end their marriage in January 2025.
