2026-06-03
30 分钟This is The Guardian.
Today, Scotland's former First Minister, her ex-husband, and a £400,000 criminal shopping spree.
What does a robotic lawnmower, luxury pens, and a lot of instant coffee all have in common?
All are on a long and bizarre list of items bought
with embezzled SNP political donations by Nicola Sturgeon's then-husband, Peter Murrell.
The former chief executive of the SNP arrived quietly and early at court this morning, clutching an overnight bag.
A clue, a guilty plea was coming.
Last week, Murrell, who was the SNP's chief executive, pled guilty to stealing £400,000 from the party.
This weekend, Sturgeon, who resigned as First Minister in 2023, finally broke her silence.
"But as the person who shared his life as his wife,
did you really not notice anything?" "I absolutely didn't know that he was committing crimes." In a BBC interview,
she denied knowing anything about what her husband was doing.
"Are you angry with him?" "Am I angry with him? I don't even think that begins
to cover it." She said she had been betrayed and deceived.
"He has put me into a position of... Of real peril. He has subjected me to public vilification,
having the finger of suspicion pointed at me, you know, humiliation.
And is paying the price for a crime she didn't commit." She's had a very torrid
and difficult week since the true extent of Peter Murrell's embezzlement became clear,
and also the extent to which the things
that he's paid for by using stolen SNP money were embedded into their domestic life.