Peter Murrell’s proceeds of crime hearing for SNP embezzlement postponed
Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, was jailed for more than five years in June
A hearing to confiscate assets from Peter Murrell after he embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP has been postponed to December.
The former chief executive of the party was jailed for more than five years in June after he admitted carrying out the crime between 2010 and 2022.
Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, had been due to return to court on Monday, but the proceeds of crime hearing will now take place on December 7.
It will determine the confiscation of funds which he embezzled from the SNP over a 12-year period.
In a private decision, the High Court in Edinburgh assigned the new date for the procedural hearing.
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The court agreed to adjourn the proceeds of crime hearing to allow further work towards resolution of the case.
“The matter will return to court, and any outcome will be reflected through the court process.”
The SNP has said it intends “to recover from the guilty party the full amount embezzled”.
On June 23, Lord Young sentenced 61-year-old Murrell to a backdated sentence of five years and three months.
The judge told Murrell he had committed a “calculated crime of dishonesty”, with a “large number of fraudulent acts over a 12-year period while you were chief executive officer of the SNP”.
He said the offending increased in frequency and amount over time.
He added: “You found yourself unable to stop this offending, and it was only the detection of the crime that brought it to an end.”
Ms Sturgeon has denied knowing about his crimes and recently described feeling like a “mug” for continuing to care about him.
She told an Edinburgh Fringe event in August: “He was still lying to me right up until the day he pled guilty.”
Current SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney has said the Murrell saga had caused “agony” for his party, and that he takes personal responsibility for the SNP’s governance.
Earlier this week, MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee launched an inquiry into party political funding following the fraud within the SNP.
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