A robotic lawn mower. A silver wine coaster. A Jaguar car. A motor home costing six figures.
The list of items bought with cash embezzled from Scotland’s governing political party ranges from the banal to the ostentatious. But the theft in total of more than 400,000 pounds, or over $500,000, from the Scottish National Party over 12 years has created the biggest scandal to hit the country’s politics in decades.
That is because the perpetrator, Peter Murrell, was not just the party’s chief executive but was the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, the party’s former leader and an ex-Scottish first minister, once seen as one of Britain’s most formidable political figures. They are now estranged.
On Tuesday, Mr. Murrell was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to embezzlement.
When Mr. Murrell appeared in court during hearings, he said nothing by way of explanation for a crime that has stunned many in Scotland. However, his lawyer, John Scullion, told the judge on Tuesday, “The accused is now an individual overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment and shame.”
James Mitchell, a professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh, said the case was “without doubt the greatest scandal” since Scotland’s modern-day Parliament began meeting in 1999.
“To be honest, like most people, I’m still trying to make sense of it all,” Professor Mitchell added.
Ms. Sturgeon unexpectedly announced her resignation as first minister in 2023, and was later arrested as part of the police investigation into Mr. Murrell but never charged. She has denied any knowledge of her estranged husband’s crimes.
Professor Mitchell said there was no doubt that the internal governance of the S.N.P., which campaigns for Scottish independence, was “beyond inadequate.”
The furor has also touched the current first minister and S.N.P. leader, John Swinney, who dismissed claims of financial irregularities when they were first raised.
Many struggle to comprehend why Mr. Murrell, who devoted his career to promoting Scottish independence, spent money that had been raised for that cause on items including a silver wine coaster for £3,500, or about $4,600 (which he claimed as “leadership expenses”) and a two-piece silicone egg poacher set (described in his expenses as “Ethernet cabling”). He also purchased a robotic lawn mower for £3,070, or about $4,000 (which he claimed as “legal fees”).
Evidence presented in court showed that he had used funds raised from donations, legacies and party membership fees.
Mr. Murrell was the party’s chief executive from 2001-23 and was able to make direct transfers of up to £30,000, or nearly $40,000, from its bank account. He had a credit card linked to it as did other staff members whose cards were used by Mr. Murrell to make personal purchases, unbeknown to them, according to evidence presented in court.
Mr. Murrell gave misleading descriptions or accounting codes for many purchases, for example, listing two watches worth £4,555 and £4,795, more than $6,000 each, as “event merchandise.” He submitted some claims without receipts and in other cases created false invoices.
Initially low level, the pilfering began in 2010, with five relatively small purchases, including a laundry basket, a shoe rack and a Sony PlayStation 3.
By 2016 Mr. Murrell had used S.N.P. money to fund about half the purchase price of a Volkswagen Golf car. In 2019 he traded that in for a new Jaguar I-Pace, paying £57,000, or more than $75,000, in two transactions from the S.N.P. account. In 2021 he sold the vehicle and received £47,378.76, or more than $62,000, into his personal bank account.
The biggest fraudulent purchase was a new Niesmann and Bischoff motor home that cost £124,550, or more than $164,000. It was ordered in October 2020 and paid for with the party’s cash but never used for political campaigning, although Mr. Murrell had suggested to party employees that it could be, the evidence showed. When seized by police from the home of Mr. Murrell’s mother, where it was parked, it had driven just four miles.
There had been warning signs.
In October 2020, Stuart Campbell, a blogger, raised questions about the party’s finances and in March 2021 three officials — Frank Ross, Allison Graham and Cynthia Guthrie — resigned from the S.N.P.’s finance and audit committee, saying they had been denied access to accounts.
Douglas Chapman, then an S.N.P. lawmaker for Dunfermline and West Fife, quit as the party’s national treasurer in May 2021, citing frustration at his failure to get information about party accounts.
Mr. Swinney, the current S.N.P. leader, was among those who had defended the party’s procedures. “The accounts of the party are independently audited by external auditors and are submitted to the electoral commission for scrutiny,” he told BBC Scotland when Mr. Chapman resigned. “So there’s a huge amount of scrutiny of party finances that goes on.”
But in July that year the police began an investigation into the accusations that cash intended for independence campaigning was being used improperly for other spending.
Speaking to the BBC in a recent interview, Ms. Sturgeon said she felt she was “serving a sentence” for a crime she “did not commit.”
At times she struggled to hold back tears, recalling how a necklace and pendant she was given by Mr. Murrell proved to have been purchased with stolen money.
The couple had separate bank accounts and, given her heavy responsibilities as first minister, she said, Mr. Murrell had dealt with most of the household bills. Because they had high incomes and no children, she said, she had no reason to doubt that he could afford expensive items like coffee machines or the new Jaguar car.
“I am not responsible for the crimes that my former husband committed, and I’m not going to apologize for somebody else’s crimes,” she told the broadcaster.
Her explanation has been ridiculed by some British media outlets, and a majority of Scots are unconvinced that she did not know, according to one opinion poll.
Because the Ms. Sturgeon “built her career selling herself as a details person with sharp observation,” Professor Mitchell argued, “then something needs to be explained.”
Among the questions the BBC asked her was whether she had seen the motor home when visiting her former mother-in-law. Ms. Sturgeon said it was “not immediately visible in the way that we went into the house.”
“Now, I genuinely, genuinely don’t have any conscious memory of seeing that motor home,” she added. “If I saw it I probably would have assumed it was a neighbor’s.”
Ms. Sturgeon also acknowledged that after her arrest she had replied “no comment” to some of the detectives’ questions but said she had done so at a traumatic moment and on legal advice.
What drove Mr. Murrell to plunge his party into crisis remains a mystery. He arrived in court on Tuesday wearing a dark suit and tie alongside two police officers who unlocked his handcuffs before he sat down. He showed no emotion on hearing his sentence and was handcuffed again and led from the dock.
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