Nicola Sturgeon: 'This has been worst week of my life' after husband jailed

Key Points

Nicola Sturgeon has spoken for the first time since her husband admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the Scottish National Party
The former first minister of Scotland said it had been the ‘worst week of my life’
Sturgeon said she was coming to terms with the realisation that she was married to someone she ‘didn’t know at all’
The former SNP leader also addressed questions about how she didn’t know about her husband’s outlandish spending
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell pled guilty to using party money to fund a lavish lifestyle that he couldn’t afford

Nicola Sturgeon has said this has been the “worst week of my life” after her estranged husband admitted stealing more than £400,000 from the SNP and spending it on luxury goods, cars and hundreds of other items.

Speaking for the first time since Peter Murrell pled guilty to embezzlement, the former first minister of Scotland said she realised she had spent years married to someone she “didn’t know at all”.

She said it was a “really painful truth to process”.

Sturgeon said the last few years had had several “tough weeks” but that this one had surpassed all of them.

Her husband, the SNP’s former chief executive, embezzled £400,310.65 from the party over 12 years.

Scotland

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A 126-page indictment details hundreds of things Murrell bought using the £400,000 embezzled funds

Murrell bought £12,000 worth of Apple products, spent more than £17,000 on Montblanc pens, bought Lalique Feuilles salt and pepper grinders worth £2,618, and spent £3,000 on a luxury bone china tea set.

He also bought an £80,000 Jaguar and a £124,000 motorhome.

The former first minister of Scotland said she was not aware of many of the items being purchased by Murrell with funds embezzled from the SNP – finding out about things in newspaper reports on Monday.

Speaking at the Listowel Writers’ Week book festival in western Ireland, she said she had been the subject of a “forensic” police investigation over the last two years and had been “completely exonerated”.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to press outside her home on June 18, 2023 - a week after being arrestedand questioned by police. — Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to press outside her home on June 18, 2023 – a week after being arrestedand questioned by police. Getty Images

Responding to the question of how she couldn’t have known about her husband’s crimes, Sturgeon said it was a “big misassumption that she knew anything about it”.

She said she wanted people to hear her side of the story and said she understood the questions.

“We were two people on high salaries, no kids, I was doing a job, and this was another factor, I was doing a job, working around the clock, away from home a lot of the time,” she said.

“Maybe this doesn’t reflect well on me, I didn’t spend a lot of time in my kitchen. I don’t spend anytime in my kitchen.

“I have been deceived, I’ve been misled, I’ve been lied to and I’ve been betrayed.

“I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last woman that’s betrayed by her husband.”

Sturgeon was sitting on stage with Scottish novelist Andrew O’Hagan for an in conversation event on Thursday afternoon.

She said it “feels like I’m sitting with a therapist right now”.

“It’s a long-winded way of saying I’m not ok, I will be ok,” she added.

“I’m a strong, resilient person. I’ve had to be the last few years. This is a tough thing to come to terms with.”