{"id":63049,"date":"2026-06-15T03:45:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/63049\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T03:45:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T03:45:48","slug":"peter-murrell-bought-4795-luxury-watch-with-snp-money-the-day-after-election-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/63049\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Murrell bought \u00a34795 luxury watch with SNP money the day after election losses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sunday Mal can reveal hours after the SNP lost a third of its Westminster seats in 2017 \u2013 including Alex Salmond\u2019s Gordon constituency \u2013 Murrell bought a black Bremont ALT1 World Timer for \u00a34795.\"Former<\/p>\n

Peter Murrell(Image: Jane Barlow\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Peter Murrell<\/a> bought a \u00a34795 luxury watch with SNP money the day after his party suffered shock losses in the 2017 general election.<\/p>\n

The ex-chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon has admitted embezzling<\/a> more than \u00a3400,000 from the party after a spending spree spanning more than a decade.<\/p>\n

And we can reveal hours after the SNP lost a third of its Westminster seats in 2017 \u2013 including Alex Salmond\u2019s Gordon constituency \u2013 Murrell <\/a>bought a black Bremont ALT1 World Timer for \u00a34795.<\/p>\n

Court documents show Murrell also indulged in an extraordinary bout of retail therapy <\/a>in the month the Scottish Government initiated an investigation into claims of sexual misconduct against former first minister Salmond.<\/p>\n

In March 2018 \u2013 the month Salmond was informed of the probe \u2013 he spent \u00a33774 on a high end Leica Q camera and another \u00a3466 on photography \u00adkit.<\/p>\n

Murrell, 61, also spent almost \u00a3500 on Le Creuset pots and pans, \u00a3206 on mugs from the same brand, and \u00a3500 on a Dyson vacuum cleaner.<\/p>\n

Two days after it broke that Salmond was being probed on August 25, Murrell <\/a>bought a luxury purse for \u00a3136 and a \u201cgentleman\u2019s knife\u201d with an ebony handle for \u00a3406.<\/p>\n

The probe into Salmond\u2019s conduct was found to be unlawful and biased, and Salmond was also later cleared in a criminal court of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bremont ALT1 World Timer costing \u00a34,795.(Image: HANDOUT)<\/p>\n

Last week, we told how Murrell embezzled, on average, more than \u00a390 a day of SNP funds daily for 12 years before he was stopped \u2013 including a \u00a3124,550 motor-home, a Jaguar I-PACE worth \u00a357,000, and made a direct transfer of \u00a316,498 from the party\u2019s account towards the purchase of a \u00a333,000 Volkswagen Golf in 2016.<\/p>\n

He also forked out on home comforts and a bookcase prominent in Sturgeon\u2019s Covid briefings.<\/p>\n

An allegation relating to a white Bremont ALT1 World Timer watch bought in May 2017 costing \u00a34555 was removed from the indictment. But the black Bremont ALT1 World Timer costing \u00a34795, bought in 2017, stayed on the list.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The infamous motorhome seized by police.(Image: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service)<\/p>\n

Salmond died in 2024 in North Macedonia.<\/p>\n

We can also reveal Murrell\u2019s spending peaked in 2020, the year Salmond was cleared of 13 sexual offence charges in March. That month alone, Murrell <\/a>spent \u00a32777.95 making purchases on five separate days.<\/p>\n

In the run-up to Salmond\u2019s trial, on March 2, he spent \u00a3418.50 on goods including an ice cream scoop, spoons, and a cake stand. A week on he spent \u00a3308.99 on tools and \u00a394.75 on Radford sugar tongs and a Scribe gift set.<\/p>\n

Between March 11 and 14, he spent \u00a31955.82 on purchases including a cordless Dyson vacuum cleaner from Argos, lamps costing \u00a31149.88, and another Dyson vacuum cleaner from John Lewis costing more than \u00a3400.<\/p>\n

Murrell, who was originally accused of stealing \u00a3459,046 in party cash, pleaded guilty to embezzling \u00a3400,310.65.<\/p>\n

Following his guilty plea he was remanded in custody and is expected to receive a significant jail sentence when he returns to the High Court next month.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Former MSP Alex Neil(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Former SNP minister Alex Neil hit out at him over the recent revelations, saying: \u201cFrom the dates of some of his purchases<\/a> Murrell appears to have been celebrating each setback and what he perceived to be Alex Salmond\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might well have been part of his motivation, but he also probably thought he was going to get away with it. He thought nobody would notice because of what he did to hide it and the fact that clearly even while people were concerned about the finances, nobody at that stage, even suspected embezzlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he didn\u2019t have anything to fear. He basically had a free-for-all to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe joint income between him and his wife was not far short of a quarter of a million pounds, and they had no \u00adchildren. They had Bute House as well as their own house, and she had a chauffeur-driven car, what more did he want?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like he went on a spending spree every time Alex Salmond had a setback.<\/p>\n

“And Murrell, who is apparently going to give some kind of statement in court this month, must explain: was this just greed? Why did he do this? What was he trying to achieve?<\/p>\n

“Was he celebrating the downfall of Alex Salmond? Or was he jealous of others who\u2019d get more money than him?<\/p>\n

\u201cWas he trying to embarrass the party? Was he trying to get one over on the party hierarchy, even although his wife was at the top of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe owes it to the people, the party in particular, the party members, and the non-party members who donated to the fund for the referendum, to give an explanation as to why did this.<\/p>\n

“He should also make an \u00adapology to the people who\u2019ve been badly affected by this whole episode, which has caused a lot of serious damage to the reputation, not just of the SNP, but Scottish politics in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt clearly demonstrates the need for far, far tighter controls as well. It would absolutely ruin the party\u2019s accountability if it were allowed to happen again. That\u2019s why I want an independent investigation.\u201d Scottish<\/p>\n

Tory Leader, Russell Findlay MSP said: \u201cYou couldn\u2019t mark Peter Murrell\u2019s<\/a> neck with a blow torch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven at some of the lowest points for his party, he was stealing ordinary members\u2019 cash to bankroll his and Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s lavish lifestyle. Increasing numbers of SNP members surely understand that a parliamentary inquiry is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scottish<\/p>\n

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie (Image: Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty )<\/p>\n

Scottish Labour deputy leader \u00adJackie Baillie said: \u201cIt is clear Peter Murrell was a prolific spender, yet no one in the SNP thought to inquire as to where the cash was going or had the slightest interest in looking at the books.<\/p>\n

Murrell used donations to fund an extravagant lifestyle for himself and Nicola Sturgeon. There will be many people across the country who think it stretches credulity that his lavish spending did not raise any eyebrows.<\/p>\n

\u201cScottish Labour believes there should be an inquiry into these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sunday Mal can reveal hours after the SNP lost a third of its Westminster seats in 2017…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7968,141,10635,15626,30133,7970,25258,3498,2236,3497,30134,5,6,4322],"class_list":["post-63049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-alex-salmond","tag-courts","tag-general-election","tag-jackie-baillie","tag-jaguar","tag-nicola-sturgeon","tag-peter-murrell","tag-scottish-government","tag-scottish-labour","tag-scottish-national-party","tag-sunday-mail-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-volkswagen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116752074933310940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}