Scotland Pulls Peter Murrell's Legal Aid After SNP Fraud Case

Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive convicted of embezzling more than £400,000 from the party, has had his government-funded legal aid withdrawn, according to a BBC News report dated Sept. 30, 2026. Murrell was told on July 28 that he would receive no further help with his legal bills, the Scotsman reported, as cited by BBC News.

How much did Murrell embezzle and how was it spent?

Murrell was sentenced in June to more than five years in prison for embezzling £400,310.65 from the Scottish National Party, according to BBC News. Prosecutors said he used charge cards, bank transfers and fake invoices to buy items including jewelry, cosmetics, stationery and games consoles. The single largest purchase was a £124,500 motorhome bought in 2020, which police recovered three years later from his mother's driveway in Dunfermline with four miles on the odometer, BBC News reported.

How much legal aid had Murrell already received?

Murrell was granted legal aid — funding typically reserved for people who cannot afford legal representation — last year, according to BBC News. The Herald reported last month that £4,831 in legal aid had already been spent on his case, a figure a Scottish Legal Aid Board spokesperson told the paper was expected to rise. "Legal representatives can send us bills during a case, or up to four months after it ends," the spokesperson said, according to the Herald account cited by BBC News. "We have not received any bills from the solicitors in this case yet, so we expect to make further payments."

"Legal aid and data protection legislation strictly limits what Slab can disclose about individual applications." — Scottish Legal Aid Board spokesperson, via BBC News

Data box: the numbers in the Murrell case

• £400,310.65 — total sum Murrell was convicted of embezzling from the SNP, per BBC News.
• £4,831 — legal aid already spent on Murrell's case as of last month, per the Herald's reporting cited by BBC News.
• £124,500 — purchase price of the motorhome bought with embezzled funds in 2020, per BBC News.
• £600,000+ — combined value of two pension accounts the court was told Murrell holds, per BBC News.
• £667,000 — sum raised for a second independence referendum campaign whose disappearance triggered the original 2021 police inquiry, per BBC News.

Why would the legal aid board withdraw support?

The Scottish Legal Aid Board confirmed to BBC News that Murrell is "no longer in receipt of legal aid" but has not stated why. The board's own published criteria, cited by BBC News, list several grounds for withdrawal, including a client providing false information, failing to disclose relevant information, or conducting himself "in an unreasonable way." The board also retains the power to recover funds already paid out if aid is terminated, according to the same criteria cited in the BBC report. Neither BBC News nor the board's public statement specifies which of these grounds, if any, applied in Murrell's case.

Can Murrell repay the embezzled funds himself?

During sentencing, the court was told Murrell holds more than £600,000 across two pension accounts and would be able to repay the £400,310.65 embezzled, according to BBC News. His lawyer has said he will be able to make that repayment, the outlet reported. A separate proceeds-of-crime action against Murrell was delayed on Sept. 11, according to a related BBC News item referenced in the report, meaning the repayment question remains before the courts even as his legal aid funding has ended.

What triggered the original investigation?

Police Scotland opened its inquiry into SNP finances in 2021 after questions arose about the fate of £667,000 raised for a second independence referendum campaign, BBC News reported. That inquiry, aimed initially at the referendum fund, uncovered Murrell's separate embezzlement scheme involving charge cards and fake invoices. The SNP separately wrote off the value of the motorhome in its party accounts on Aug. 6, according to another BBC News report referenced in the coverage.

Murrell is the estranged husband of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The Scottish Legal Aid Board has declined to elaborate further on the withdrawal decision, citing legal aid and data protection statutes that limit disclosure about individual applicants, the board told BBC News.

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