Peter Murrell’s full record of lavish purchases – £60 bread bin, ex-wife’s e book, motorhome
Peter Murrell pleaded guilty to spending embezzled SNP funds on luxury homeware, games and gadgets including a £3,200 coffee machine, telescope and designer umbrellas
Peter Murrell – also Ms Sturgeon’s estranged husband – plead guilty to embezzling around £400,000 from the party.
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell spent embezzled party money on an extraordinary shopping list including a £3,200 luxury coffee machine, nearly £2,000 worth of umbrellas and even a copy of his estranged wife Nicola Sturgeon’s own book of speeches.
Sturgeon announced in January 2025 that she and Murrell had decided to end their marriage.
The 126-page indictment against Murrell, 61, lays out hundreds of purchases prosecutors say were funded using money embezzled from the SNP – offering a remarkable glimpse into his spending habits.
The cash was used to buy a range of items, including a motorhome, two cars, luxury domestic comforts, quirky collector’s items and expensive gadgets. Among the most eye-catching purchases was a Celestron NexStar computerised telescope costing £1,199, alongside additional accessories bought the same day.
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Murrell is also thought to have spent £3,231 on a Jura Giga 5 Cromo coffee machine, £2,618 on designer pepper and salt grinders and almost £2,000 on eight umbrellas.
The indictment further details purchases of a £943 oak library ladder, a £625 Royal Mint silver proof coin set and a £550 Airbus model helicopter.
There were also a string of smaller household purchases including two toilet seats costing nearly £70, a £60 designer bread bin, washing-up bowls, soap baskets and a Jamie Oliver wooden spoon set.
The spending list suggests a taste for premium kitchen gadgets and luxury homeware.
Among the items bought using embezzled funds were a Le Creuset wine cooler and champagne opener set, an Oxo egg poacher and almost £200 worth of cupboard organisers.
Murrell also spent hundreds on personal accessories and gifts, including three designer manicure sets costing almost £294, a special edition Beatles fountain pen and rollerball set worth £1,475 and four “space pens” costing £89.
The indictment additionally offers insight into his entertainment tastes.
Purchases included boxsets of Danish political thriller Borgen and crime drama The Killing, as well as copies of Grand Theft Auto V, Battlefield 4 and FIFA 2014.
A Monopoly board game also appears on the list.
Prosecutors said Murrell bought a £22 copy of Women Hold Up Half the Sky: Selected Speeches of Nicola Sturgeon using the embezzled funds.
The spending also extended to hobbies and outdoor items, including bird feeders, a weather station rain gauge, rock climbing carabiners and a bike tool kit.
Other purchases listed include a Fortnum & Mason musical advent calendar, luxury birthday cards, Helly Hansen vests and nearly £18 worth of giant Chocolossus biscuits.
The former SNP chief executive admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
Nicola Sturgeon has already stated she had “no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds”.
In a statement released through lawyer Aamer Anwar, the former first minister said she and Murrell had had separate bank accounts, and she had no access to his financial records.
“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,” she said.
Adding that she and Murrell were “both earning high salaries”, Ms Sturgeon said: “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.”
She also stressed she was “cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation” by Police Scotland.
Full list
– Celestron 10169 NexStar 8SE computerised Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (£1,199). He also bought a number of accessories for the device on the same day.
– The Killing seasons 1-3 on DVD (£60). The list also includes purchases of DVDs of Borgen, The Government and Sherlock Holmes.
– Grand Theft Auto V for Playstation 4 (£42.99). Other gaming-related purchases on the list include Fifa 2014, Battlefield 4, and a Playstation 3 console.
– Three Wusthof manicure sets (£293.70).
– Joseph Joseph bread bin (£60).
– Netatmo rain gauge for a Netatmo weather station plus mounts for rain and wind gauges (£78.99).
– The Beatles special edition fountain pen and rollerball (£1,475).
– 1:30 scale model helicopter from Let’s Shop Airbus of Airbus Operations Limited (£550.59).
– Two pairs of Fit Nation Socks (£11.95).
– Victorinox bike tool kit (£22.41).
– Two Freskaro carabiner clips and a 2win2buy rock climbing carabiner outdoor sports tool (£40.49).
– Oxo Good Grips egg poacher set (£23.98).
– Copy of the board game Monopoly, published by Hasbro (£19.79).
– Copy of the book Women Hold Up Half the Sky: Selected Speeches of Nicola Sturgeon (£22.04).
– Two Fisher bullet space pens in gift boxes and two Fischer Eclipse American technology space pens (£89.25).
– Two pairs of Gold Leaf gents dry touch gloves and six bottles of Avon Skin So Soft body spray (£58.73).
– Luxury handmade 90th birthday card (£5.85).
– Jura Giga 5 Cromo coffee machine (£3,231.90).
– Two Smedbo Sideline design soap baskets (£116).
– Oak library ladder (£943).
– Jamie Oliver Acacia wooden spoon set (£14.88).
– Four Simple Human kitchen cupboard cabinet organisers (£196.08).
– Two Helly Hansen men’s vests (£140.49).
– Le Creuset wine bottle cooler sleeve, foil remover, and champagne and sparkling wine bottle opener (£57).
– Three Take the Slow Road books, covering Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland (£42.45).
– 2017 United Kingdom silver proof coin set from the Royal Mint (£625).
– 600g pack of Chocolossus biscuits (£17.95).
– Two Ideal Standard toilet seats (£68.82).
– Fortnum & Mason musical advent calendar (£150).
– Two Addis washing-up bowls (£10.98).
– Folio Society edition of Walter Scott’s novel Rob Roy (£307.50).
– Two Feuilles pepper and salt grinders (£2,618.16).
– George Foreman Flexe 26250 electric grill (£49.99).
– Three Jacobi Jane bird feeders (£154.97).
– Eight umbrellas (£1,990.50).
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