The Peter Murrell scandal: New videos show police grilling former party chief over embezzlement as he refuses to answer why SNP would need to spend £19k on pens!

By GRAHAM GRANT, SCOTTISH HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 10:06, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 10:12, 23 June 2026 Brazen Peter Murrell refused to comment as detectives grilled him about his embezzlement – and what he would say to party members who were victims of his theft. Police Scotland released video footage of interviews with the former SNP chief executive. He is seen in a small room in a police station accompanied by his lawyer, whose face is pixellated. Murrell, 61, is in a checked shirt and listens impassively as a detective questions him about the fraud. The interviews took place on the day in April 2024 when Murrell was charged with embezzling funds from the SNP. Last month Murrell admitted embezzling more than £400,000 of party funds. Today he was jailed for five years. It followed the long-running Operation Branchform into SNP finances, which cost police and prosecutors more than £3million. Murrell’s now-estranged wife Nicola Sturgeon also responded with ‘no comment’ when questioned by police - but she has faced no charges. Peter Murrell arrives in a prison van at the High Court in Edinburgh at the start of June Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: ‘Just like his wife “no comment Nicola”, Peter Murrell chose to brazenly stonewall detectives’ legitimate questions. ‘In so doing, the former SNP boss added to the multi-million cost of the justice process with zero regard for Scotland’s taxpayers. The detective is heard putting to Murrell that ‘your behaviour and embezzlement must have had a negative impact on the business [of the SNP]’. The officer says: ‘There must have been decisions which couldn’t be made because the cash reserve was so low. ‘And part of the reason they’re low is you’re thieving off them. ‘What would you say to those people, those members, who asked you about that? ‘What are you going to say to them?’ The detective also puts to Murrell that ‘Amazon were the perfect foil for you because they’re a retailer you can hide transactions behind’. The officer says: ‘They sell everything so you can describe it as anything – and they deliver quickly. ‘But easy to hide, easy to miscode [in SNP accounts], easy to buy things and call them something else, if you buy them on Amazon. ‘And you spread the Amazon transactions across three cards. ‘If all of your Amazon purchases were on your own card, it would just be Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, non-stop. The infamous motorhome that was seized by the police A wine coaster was another one of the items purchased by Murrell ‘That’s why you use Amazon so much, isn’t it?’ Murrell quietly responds: ‘No comment.’ The detective also says more than £19,000 was spent ‘exclusively on pens alone’. He says: ‘Quite frankly, it’s an outrageous amount of money to be spending on pens, in my opinion. ‘You bought them. You must have an opinion on them, Peter. ‘What does the SNP need over £19,000 of luxury pens for?’ Murrell gently shakes his head and responds with ‘no comment’. The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed at the weekend that Murrell had insisted the SNP would willingly report criminality to the police - just hours after purchasing a luxury motorhome with money he had embezzled from the party. Back in 2020, Murrell was the SNP chief executive and was giving evidence to MSPs about the party’s disciplinary procedures. He told them that, although the party had never had to report a member to the police, it would do so if it unearthed a ‘clear act of criminality’. He then went on to discuss how the SNP would report MSPs to the parliament and other institutions if an allegation was made about ‘misuse of funds’. At the time, his comments seemed unremarkable. But in the light of his criminal conviction, they now seem incredibly brazen. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.