No forgiveness for Peter Murrell as his ex-SNP peers find his sins beyond redemption
Peter Murrell cast a dejected figure in the dock of Edinburgh’s High Court as he finally learned his fate
At the memorial service for the late Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace, keen ears pricked up.
The reading was Matthew 25:36. “I was in prison,” Jesus said, “And you came to me.”
To some, it felt unwittingly pointed.
Peter Murrell, now, is in prison and who will come to him?
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Not First Minister John Swinney, asked by the Holyrood press pack if he had intentions to go to his former colleague.
“No,” was the curt answer.
Can he forgive Mr Murrell? This question was more complicated. Mr Swinney says, as a man of Christian faith, forgiveness is a central tenet of his personal morality.
“Is it agony?” he said of Murrell’s betrayal. “Yes.”
Mr Swinney may still come to a place of forgiveness for the former SNP chief executive, but he has not reached that juncture yet.
Neither, it would seem, have any of his party colleagues.
It was 9.44am on the digital clock in the High Court of Edinburgh on Tuesday morning when Murrell learned his fate, his punishment for embezzling more than £4000,000 from his party.
Judge Lord Young told him to stand as he handed down a sentence for crimes carried out undetected over 12 years.
He stood. The public gallery was packed. The press gallery fit to burst. Television cameras zoomed their lenses to his face.
Murrell’s defence lawyer had given mitigation shortly before. His client has stood three times in the dock. The past twice, he was calm. This time he twitched, slight movements only noticeable to those watching keenly.
He touched his chin. He touched his cheek. His hair, what remains, is white. The court entire watched keenly.
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John Scullion KC told the court his client had been shunned by his colleagues and friends. “Ostracised,” was the word. From his arrest in April 2025 he “lived in almost total isolation, at times to the detriment of his health”. Mr Scullion said Murrell’s post-incarceration prospects are “bleak”. He had, during the course of legal proceedings, become a figure of ridicule.
There was no mitigation, only remorse. Those hoping for some insight into Murrell’s motivations were left wanting.
While the court was told he engaged fully with the criminal justice social worker - and he is a white collar, middle class thief so of course he engaged fully - there was no coherent reason for stealing such sums of cash, for such a length of time and buying such deeply odd purchases.
The description of Murrell as a lonely outcast certainly chimes with what those formerly close to him have said.
These are not only colleagues, these are loved ones and friends, relationships cultivated over decades during a shared passion project. Ouch.
Matthew 25 also tells the faithful this: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” Yet politics is an unChristian business.
Murrell, insiders say, was at such an isolated, low ebb, his family asked former close colleagues to contact him. To simply check in. It is not thought anyone did.
So here, in the High Court, after three years in the wilderness, Murrell learned for how long he will be banished.
Five years and three months, Lord Young handed down.
Murrell will be eligible for parole in two and a half years. Enough time for Mr Swinney to meditate on the nature of forgiveness.
Perhaps never enough time for others in the SNP to welcome him back as a prodigal son.
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