Nicola Sturgeons husband pleads guilty.

In any normal relationship between two people you would know if the other person was spending hugh sums of money on stuff you didn’t need or indeed want. You have to wonder what the relationship was really like and if it was simply a marriage of convenience between those two.

She must have known that he could not afford to buy such expensive items. Did he just forget to ask her if she wanted or would like another coffee machine. Like table lamps or rugs you could have a coffee machine in each of the bedrooms.

There is no way a wife (a proper wife) wouldn’t think that this kind of spending was way out of control. You would think that she would wonder where he was getting the money from for all those luxury items. I cannot believe that she didn’t know.

It seems to me that Sturgeon has a lot of questions to answer.

Well she was a nippy sweetie when asked about finances way back in 2021; insisted that SNP finances had "never been stronger" and even warned staff off suggestions that their was anything wrong. She knew all right. She knew fine well.

paddyann54

It works out at under £3000 a month over the 12 years .

With a combined income of nearly £240 k two grand extra won’t show.Cars aren’t usually paid in cash so we would assume he had some sort of payment lan.Like my friend who regularly changes/upgrades his Defender which costs over £100 k it won’t look out of the ordinary.
She didn,t drive until she was 53 so she would have had a car and driver on expenses.
As mot if not all MP,s do.
The money wasn,t public money the SNP accounts were audited yearly the motorhome is there for all to see .
I will continue to donate as will my family and friends.
This was a witch-hunt
Yes he was stupid thinking he wouldn,t get caught but there are many in other parties who walked away with far more and THAT was public money !
Dido Harding,Michelle MOne ,where were the blue tents the list of how they spent taxpayer cash or the court cases?
Seems Whats good for the Westminster goose isn,t good for the SNP gander…let’s face it it was just a political farce caused by one man and a different man because he be.ieved Alex Salmond was treated unfairly.
We will never be treated fairly by the media while others guilty of far worse walk free .
Sean Clerkins work for his now dead hero is done He will be very pleased with himself!

Reads like you consider Murrell should have got off scot free.

Murrell wasn't taking money on a monthly basis, he paid tens of thousands for a car in one lump sum, from SNP funds, then sold the car and paid the money into his private account.

He didn't buy the motorhome on a monthly payment plan.

Some people having possibly got away with worse than Murrell's confessed crimes does not make him less guilty.

It's not a witch hunt when a guilty man confesses.

The electorate has been manipulated by the delay in the court case.

It is public record that Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly tried to stop any discussion about missing funds, inside and out with the SNP.

Sturgeon and her SNP collaborators had absolutely no interest in achieving Scottish Independence and that hasn't changed with Swinney, even the rhetoric is an illusion to appease. Wake up and smell the coffee, Murrell bought enough of it.

Defending the indefensible! Surely as leader of the SNP wee Nicky would have had to sign off their finances each year? It sure smells fishy.

Well thank goodness they are no longer in positions of influence. Shonky couple.

Well, paddyanne, I am incensed by the activities of Michelle Mone and her refusal to return the astronomical sums she took from the British taxpayer.
However, I cannot see how that exonerates Mr Murrell.

nanna8

Well thank goodness they are no longer in positions of influence. Shonky couple.

Unfortunately Sturgeon's legacy is in clear sight, her influence remains in tact.

SueDonim

Defending the indefensible! Surely as leader of the SNP wee Nicky would have had to sign off their finances each year? It sure smells fishy.

That’s my thoughts…

Old Frill

Wake up and smell the coffee, Murrell bought enough of it.

Love it.

Apparently she is really tough, and ruled with a rod of iron. There is no way that she didn’t know.

Unless he’s into manicures, she’d have to be. Why else would he be buying not one but three manicure sets from an expensive retailer. Did she drink coffee? If so, she certainly had a lot of coffee machines to choose from in her home.

I always thought that Nicola had more than a passing resemblance to wee Jimmy Crankie and he was a very naughty boy.

Paddyann54

I knew you wouldn’t let me down and true to form along you came and put the blame squarely on wicked Westminster. Whataboutery and deflection at its finest.

surfsup
👏👏👏

Do people have views on what this means in terms of the Alec Salmond allegations, I remember being quite concerned that women who I respected in terms of women's rights ( not Sturgeon!) were defending him. I know he was acquitted but I just wondered if particularly those who live in Scotland had a view, I found it all quite confusing at the time.

surfsup

Paddyann54

I knew you wouldn’t let me down and true to form along you came and put the blame squarely on wicked Westminster. Whataboutery and deflection at its finest.

My only surprise was it took that long!
A combined income of £240k means a take home pay of roughly £11,500 per month and Paddyann54 thinks an extra 25 % wouldn't be obvious to Nicola? And that's if it had been stolen on a month by month basis which it clearly wasn't.
Seems criminals are perfectly acceptable as long as they wear the correct colour rosette.

JenniferEccles

Sturgeon claims she had absolutely no idea about her husband’s spending spree.

“Well she would, wouldn’t she?”

It takes some believing, doesn't it? She must have wondered where the money was coming from for luxury cars etc. If my husband suddenly produced a range of top end goods I would have been asking some questions.

It’s all very odd. Did nobody have suspicions? Swinney claims he trusted the system and there’s nothing wrong with it - imo there blatantly is. How did the auditors not spot anything amiss? The police investigated Sturgeon and she was not charged so should be presumed innocent but people will always wonder. Perhaps she found out and abandoned ship before it sunk.

paddyann54 The money wasn,t public money the SNP accounts were audited yearly the motorhome is there for all to see .

Would that be the motorhome bought as a 'campaign vehicle' that wasn't used, but instead one was hired for a couple of weeks from a commercial company? It's amazing that someone could think stealing from ordinary people who donated their hard-earned cash is somehow preferable to stealing public money. If the accounts were audited then the auditor needs investigating since s/he clearly didn't do the job properly.

One can see why the SNP continues to flourish

I will continue to donate as will my family and friends.

An example of Scotland's finest.

“Sheep are meant to be sheared” comes to mind.

Murrell accessed these accounts way too easily regarding them as his own personal fiefdom.

Well ‘thiefdom’ fits better.

The fact that despite police investigation over a prolonged period, there is no evidence to convict Nicola Sturgeon of any involvement in her husband’s criminal activities means something I think. Was he a conman, and she a woman who, regardless of her position ,was conned? Unfortunately it happens far more frequently than anybody, particularly the victims will admit, even to themselves. I feel uncomfortable in condemning her when there is nothing but circumstantial evidence.

Silvershadow

I think I’d be wondering why he needed these things, where the money was coming from at the very least. Not something you could hide away in a cupboard really.

We wondered, too. Not excusing him by any means but when you read the list, with some very odd items, it feels like some sort of compulsion.

With all the manicure sets he was buying and a camper van, maybe he was a philanderer as well as a thief. It might explain why Nicola didn't know about some of the stuff.

I’m with eazybee and calendargirl, we don’t, if they actually lived together, was it a happy marriage or just for tax purposes? He maybe told Nicola he had been left £500,00 from an aunty and that’s where the money came from.
I think Nicola deserves our sympathy and support for this mess. She did a great job running Scotland during COVID and had no time to argue with her husband about what he spent “his” money on.
He will not have an easy time if he’s sent to prison.