Nicola Sturgeon is no longer under investigation as part of the police case looking into alleged mishandling of Scottish National party funds.
Police Scotland said the former Scottish first minister would not face any charges after her former husband, Peter Murrell, appeared for a private hearing at Edinburgh sheriff court on a single charge of embezzlement on Thursday.
Sturgeon, 54, and the former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, 73, were arrested in 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, a long-running police inquiry into allegations that up to £650,000 of SNP funds had been handled fraudulently.
In a statement, Police Scotland said: “Following direction from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, criminal inquiries into two people arrested as part of the investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National party have now concluded.
“The 73-year-old man arrested on 18 April 2023 and the 54-year-old woman arrested on 11 June 2023 have not been charged and are no longer under investigation.”
The confirmation came after it emerged that Murrell, who served as the SNP’s chief executive for 22 years, had made no plea during his court appearance, a routine hearing that formally begins the prosecution process.
The Crown Office has not yet released the charge against him.
Murrell was arrested in April 2023 after police came to the home he then shared with Sturgeon in Bishopbriggs outside Glasgow, as police mounted a simultaneous raid on the SNP’s headquarters near the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Police erected tents outside their detached home, carrying out extensive searches of the property and its garden and shed, while removing documents and computers from both their home and the SNP’s offices.
Police later confiscated a luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s home in Fife.
After being released pending further investigation, Murrell was rearrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. In late 2024, Police Scotland submitted an extensive report to the Crown Office, setting out the evidence it had gathered.
Murrell has made no public comment about his arrest or the investigation, but Sturgeon has repeatedly insisted she was innocent of any wrongdoing after her arrest in June 2023.
She told reporters she was convinced she had done nothing wrong: “You know, I can’t say very much, so what I will say is reiterate the statement issued last Sunday. I am certain that I have done nothing wrong.”
Sturgeon, whose memoirs will be published in August, announced in January that she and Murrell were to divorce and indicated they had been living separate lives for some time. Earlier in March, she confirmed she would not be standing for re-election to Holyrood in next year’s Scottish parliament elections.
Source: theguardian.com
