Unravelling the enigma of Peter Murrell, the SNP's lonely, gadget-loving thief
Former colleagues are struggling to come to terms with Murrell’s crimes
Why did he do it? It is the mystery at the heart of the scandal that has gripped Scotland.
Why did Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, embezzle more than £400,000 from the party he had devoted much of his life to?
When Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband was jailed for more than five years on Tuesday, judge Lord Young said it was “very difficult to get a clear picture” of what drove his actions.
“Many of the high-value items acquired by you were not even used, and for my purposes today I think it’s sufficient to say that I cannot identify any factors which caused you to offend which might be considered to be mitigatory factors,” he told the High Court in Edinburgh.
There was a tantalising reference to a social work report in which Murrell, 61, identified possible factors arising from his background, working life and personal circumstances, but no details were made public.
He had, according to this report, found himself unable to stop his offending. His lawyer painted a grim picture of an isolated man overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and shame, with a bleak, solitary future ahead of him.
He has been ostracised by his former colleagues, although one boyhood friend told Scotland on Sunday he would visit him in prison.
Now, those who knew and worked with Murrell are now struggling to come to terms with his crimes.
"I cannot answer the question, why did he do it,” said former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who was known Murrell since around 1980. “I cannot do that. He's destroyed his life and impacted the life of many others as well. It's just baffling in the extreme.”
Even at the height of his power, Murrell, by all accounts, had few friends and no real social circle.
"He was certainly quite an odd man,” said someone who worked with him before Ms Sturgeon became SNP leader. “Never unfriendly, but you were never quite sure where you were with him. He wasn't a particularly sociable character.”
One former SNP adviser puts it rather more bluntly. "Somebody was saying prison will be a lonely place for Peter Murrell the other day.
"I don't think it will be any lonelier than the life he was already leading, because he was a bit of a loner, he didn't really have friends, he didn't have a social circle, he didn't have a professional circle in a social setting.”
Murrell’s love of gadgets and merchandise was a running joke among staff.
"He was quite easy to work with, but you just didn't get the sense that anybody knew him well as a person,” the figure who worked with him prior to the Sturgeon era said.
"The two things that you knew about him were his devotion to the cause of independence, and his devotion to his wife. That was kind of it.
"And then the kind of habit of collecting gadgets and things - which, in hindsight, there was much more going on there than anybody perhaps realised at the time."
The former SNP adviser also recalled Murrell’s love of “tat”.
“He loved spending lots of party money on campaign tat,” they said. “Foam fingers saying 'I'm with Nicola' or squeezy stress balls or umbrellas or whatever - plastic crap.”
Ms Sturgeon remembered Murrell as “Mr Gadget Man” when she first came across him at an SNP youth weekend in 1988, due to a belt he wore with electronic “gizmos” attached.
The nature of their relationship has been the subject of much speculation, further fuelled by Ms Sturgeon’s admission in her memoir that she has never considered her sexuality to be “binary”.
But in 2006, she told a newspaper that Murrell was a “big, big factor” in her personal happiness. “That spark is always there,” Murrell wrote the following year. “We are constantly having conversations that I’m amazed by.”
Just months before the couple tied the knot at the Oran Mor in Glasgow in July 2010, he told a journalist: “Loving Nicola gives me a feeling of completeness.”
All was not well, however. His proven embezzlement began later that year, with the purchase of two Ali Baba laundry baskets from Amazon for £70.89.
It was the start of an astonishing crime spree that would take in more than 1,000 purchases using embezzled SNP cash, ranging from the infamous £124,550 luxury motorhome to £3.50 super glue.
Ms Sturgeon announced her split from Murrell in January last year, and has since spoken of his betrayal and deception.
Other people’s marriages are, famously, a mystery. But together, the pair were the dominant figures in the SNP during a period of astonishing electoral success.
"His record as chief executive, preparing the SNP to win elections and so on, speaks for itself,” Mr Blackford said.
"So you've got that contrast of someone who is seen to be professional and competent, yet his behaviour, what he did is obviously morally reprehensible. So how you square that, God knows."
"He did his job very effectively,” said the person who worked with Murrell before Ms Sturgeon became leader.
“Even with everything we know now about what he was also doing at the same time, there's no question he was an incredibly effective campaign manager. Organisationally he did so much to move the cause on and secure all that electoral success."
Not everyone agrees.
"I think the credit given to Peter Murrell for turning the SNP into this smooth electoral operation is totally misplaced,” said the former party adviser. "I think it's a total myth. I think the SNP's success was based on its leadership at the time."
The ex-adviser said claims by Murrell were sometimes taken with “a pinch of salt” internally.
"I would always ask Peter for a membership figure ahead of a conference," they said. "Just so you can build it into the briefing - how many people were attending, how many stallholders were attending, all of that.
"And he would usually give you a number on the membership. We almost had a running joke about guessing what number Peter would come up with in his head to sound good."
Murrell resigned as chief executive of the SNP in March 2023 after misleading the media about party membership numbers.
Alex Salmond did not trust Murrell “as far as he could throw him,” the ex-adviser said. The former first minister believed Murrell stole money from him when they worked together in the 1990s.
However, former colleagues also recall acts of uncommon kindness and generosity.
Those looking for clues in Murrell’s boyhood in Edinburgh, where he attended Craigmount High School and was a member of the Boys’ Brigade alongside John Swinney, may be disappointed.
One old friend, who met him through the BB and shared his nationalist politics, said there was “nothing in his character or demeanour” that hinted at what was to come.
Murrell was reserved even then. "He wouldn't be at the centre of the group,” the friend said. “He would be more comfortable in the background."
He remained in touch with Murrell into adulthood, but the two have not spoken for a few years. Asked if he planned to visit him in prison, the friend said: "Yeah, I would. I think he needs friends."
He added: "I'm no psychologist and I'm not trained but I can't help wonder if some part of this can be explained by compulsive behaviour, because it doesn't make any sense to do what he has done."
The friend continued: "I find it hard to believe even now, even after the verdict or the guilty plea and the sentencing. It still doesn't make any sense."
That feeling of disbelief is widespread.
"It's still impossible to wrap your head around why he did it,” said the individual who worked with Murrell before the Sturgeon era.
“Given how compulsive it looks, if there was something there that he actually really needed help for and still needs help for, then yeah it is possible to feel a sense of sympathy there.
"That doesn't cancel out the sense of anger and betrayal that so many people feel. He wasn't the man we thought he was.”
They added: "The overriding feeling that I have about it is just one of outright confusion. I cannot wrap my head around it."
It is, as one SNP MSP put it, a “Shakespearean" downfall. "It’s got everything,” they observed. “Intrigue, power, abuse of power.”
Ms Sturgeon was contacted for comment for this article via her lawyer Aamer Anwar, but did not respond.
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