Watch: Peter Murrell silent as detectives grilled him on 'outrageous' £19k pen spending
The 61-year-old sat silent and impassive as detectives challenged him on his “outrageous” spending on pens and other items that he bought with money embezzled from the SNP.
Peter Murrell has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison after admitting embezzling over £400,000 from the SNP.
Over a number of years he spent party donations on a range of luxury goods, including the now infamous £125,000 motorhome that only had four miles on the clock when it was seized by police.
The former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon also admitted to falsifying accounting records and creating fake invoices in a bid to cover up his wrongdoing.
He was hauled into the Edinburgh High Court on Tuesday morning for sentencing, and was told a custodial sentence of up to seven years would have been imposed if the case had gone to trial.
The Crown Office has now released video footage of Murrell’s police interviews, where he was questioned about a number of his illicit purchases, including a series of expensive luxury pens and a Jaguar.
The 61-year-old sat silent and impassive as detectives challenged him on his “outrageous” spending on pens and other items that he bought with money embezzled from the SNP.
He remained silent or answered “no comment” as detectives from Operation Branchform, the investigation into the SNP’s finances, put a series of accusations to him.
In one clip, a detective told Murrell that he used Amazon as the “perfect foil” behind which to hide his crimes, because the retailer was so ubiquitous that personal purchases could be easily concealed.
Murrell’s Amazon purchases were spread across three different bank cards, and detectives suggested that he did so to avoid maxing out any single one.
The former party chief executive, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s former husband, said “no comment” quietly in relation to this.
In another clip, detectives asked Murrell about how he created a false invoice in order to purchase a Jaguar i-Pace car for himself on the SNP’s books.
He answered “no comment” to this.
In a different clip, police discussed his spending on pens.
He was told: “Of that amount, over £19,000 is exclusively on pens alone.
“It’s quite frankly an outrageous amount of money to be spending on pens, in my opinion.
“What about your opinion? You bought them, you must have an opinion on them Peter.
“What does the SNP need over £19,000 of luxury pens for?”
Read more: The case against Peter Murrell and why Sturgeon wasn't charged
During the interview, Murrell was also told: “Your behaviour and embezzlement must have had a negative impact on the business.
“There must have been decisions that couldn’t be made because the cash reserve was so low.
“And part of the reason they’re so low is you’re thieving off them.
“What would you say to those people, those members, who ask you about it? What are you going to say to them when they ask you about it?”
You can now watch the clips of his police interviews following his sentencing in the video player above.
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