Peter Murrell in court charged with embezzlement

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with embezzlement.

Mr Murrell, the husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, was charged in April of last year as part of an investigation into the party's funding and finances.

He made no plea during a private hearing and was granted bail.

Mr Murrell was previously arrested as a suspect in April 2023 before being released without charge.

He is understood to have resigned his SNP membership.

In January it was announced that Mr Murrell's marriage with Ms Sturgeon was coming to end.

Ms Sturgeon, who is still an SNP MSP, was arrested and released without charge in June 2023. She has strongly denied any wrongdoing

Mr Murrell resigned as SNP chief executive in March 2023 after taking responsibility for misleading the media about party membership numbers.

A month later, the home he shared with Ms Sturgeon was searched by police officers looking into what happened to £660,000 of donations given to the SNP by independence activists.

Police also searched the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh and confiscated a luxury motorhome parked in the driveway of Murrell's mother in Fife.

The investigation, called Operation Branchform, has lasted more than two years.

In September last year it emerged that officers had sent prosecutors details of what they had uncovered in an "advice and guidance report" and were seeking formal advice on what they should do next.

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