Lord Advocate admits 'uncomfortable' look to briefing Swinney about Murrell amid claims she misled Holyrood
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain has been accused of misleading parliament.
Scotland’s Lord Advocate has admitted she understands “why people feel uncomfortable” with her briefing John Swinney about the Peter Murrell case in March 2025 as she faced accusations she misled Holyrood.
Dorothy Bain briefed the First Minister over Mr Murrell’s embezzlement charges in a memo sent in January, which Ms Bain claimed last week was a routine notification. But it emerged on Tuesday that she had also notified Mr Swinney about the details in the case in March 2025.
Ms Bain is now facing accusations she misled parliament by not mentioning her earlier notification to Mr Swinney when she appeared in front of MSPs last week when she justified notifying the First Minister in January because the indictment against Mr Murrell had been served. It had not been served before her prior notification in March 2025.
The Scottish Conservatives have claimed the Lord Advocate should “seriously consider whether her position is tenable.”
Speaking in Holyrood, Ms Bain was asked repeatedly to explain why the March 2025 briefing was omitted from her answers to questions from MSPs last week, before being revealed on Tuesday.
Ms Bain said that she had “not seen the March 2025 document” and had not viewed it “since it was sent”.
She added: “I understand why people may feel uncomfortable that the First Minister has information that others do not. In a sensitive context, that might be heightened.
“But the reason the First Minister gets to know some things that the public do not is because he has responsibilities that the public do not.
“Of course I saw the March 2025 document when it was sent from my office but I did not see it before I entered the chamber to answer questions.
“I didn’t know of it at the point at which I was being asked questions.”
Scottish Conservative MSP, Stephen Kerr, said the episode was “a shameful dereliction of duty”, arguing that “she should seriously consider whether her position is tenable”.
He added: “We thought the public and the media had only been kept in the dark for a matter of weeks compared to when John Swinney knew, but we now know Swinney was given a secret update nearly a year ago by Scotland’s top law officer about this case.
“Serious questions remain as to why Dorothy Bain didn’t tell parliament the whole truth about her shady briefings to Swinney when she was in Holyrood last week.”