Nicola Sturgeons husband pleads guilty.

Cardamom

paddyann54 much as I admire your solid determination to see only the best in Murrell's squalid thievery, I really don't think that you can compare your own domestic financial financial situation with those of the CEO of a political party. Honesty, integrity and openess is even more vital than in a personal relationship and, whilst you don't mind that he ran off with your donations, many others will not be. Similarly, I completely understand that you revere Oor Wee Nicky and won't have a word said against her but her insistence that she had no inkling of the nefarious ways of her husband are not comparable with your own domestic bliss of financial openess and trust. She personally warned the SNPs National Executive Committee, as far back as 2021, to be "very careful" about suggesting there were problems with party accounts because it would deter people like you from continuing to donate. Now why would she do that if there was nothing to hide? Not much "openess and trust" there was there?

‘Wee Burnie’ was well & truely ‘offski’ down to London 🤣

Under English law she would have been accused of benefiting from the proceeds of crime.
Obviously that’s OK in Scotland?

"I live with a man who's often bought expensive things"...........aw I know, proper pissed off I was when the Lalique salt and pepper grinders turned up at £2,618.16., well didn't I let him have it "look mate, you can pick up both salt and pepper grinders in Aldi for a couple of quid, I'd earmarked that money for my Louboutins, I mean I need them, they give me stature, make me feel like I'm an adult in the room.

Men eh

😂

OldFrill

paddyann54

I live with a man who often bought expensive things and I knew nothing about them ,we currently have 3 classic cars he took straight to his garage he even bought the house we,ve lived in for 37 years and I didn,t know until he was looking for his cheque book to pay the deposit.
Did /doI need to know what he spends? No as long as he believes he can afford it it’s his business.
You can’t take it with you so why not.
I am particularly easy going and in a 51 year marriage where I trust him implicitly and it’s only money.
There’s no ceiling on my spending either and no need to OK purchases ….
I find it odd so many think it’s ok to interfere in their husbands life unless it’s something harmful or illegal.Assuming she knew is just wrong
He did a stupid senseless thing for reasons that are his own….he damaged his marriage his party and the independence movement ,in the scheme of things there are far worse things happening in the world to worry about .
I don’t condone it but it won’t give me sleepless nights .
At a guess I,dthink he was very unhappy and under pressure..He didn’t steal YOUR nd the donors on the whole aren’t demanding refunds.
The amount of money wasted by Police Scotland on this is a bigger concern when there are far worse crimes that need dealing with
Just MY opinion

Do you do stand up comedy too.

Yes! but of course, stand up would be a natural progression. Irony is such a wonderful indicator of humour, "I'm particularly easy going" disguising it with frenzied outbursts. Clever tactics, because so many posts are really, really funny.

He has pleaded to stealing 400k, personally I think it’s a lot more and he has done a deal, I’m sure anyone of us seeing goods coming in to our home including a 100k Motorhomes, would question our other halves on the source of this money. I suspect She is being protected by those on high.

Casdon

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.

Those are my thoughts too. I'm no fan of Nicola Sturgeon - not being a Scottish voter, indifference best sums up my thoughts about her before all this.

Conmen (and women) can be extremely convincing liars when it comes to hiding their spending or 'explaining' how they have obtained things.
Nor do all couples share details about what they earn, so in the absence of any actual proof to the contrary, I find it quite plausible that she was unaware of what he was doing.

I worked with someone whose husband was convicted of fraud/theft and got a 12 month prison sentence.
She genuinely hadn't a clue that anything was wrong until the police turned up on their doorstep one evening.
They both worked. It turned out that they had been living beyond their means for a few years, and when the money ran out he started taking it from his place of work, and the spending continued. Prior to his downfall, he always had a believable 'explanation' for any shortage (which she was always led to believe was temporary) of funds, and his wife didn't doubt the truth of what he told her for a moment.

winterwhite

I agree that the bizarre items bought by Peter Murrell give the impression of some kind of compulsive disorder.

So long as NS wasn't complicit, does it really matter that she apparently took no notice of what he did?

I think the problem is that both she and the treasurer signed off the spending for the SNP prior to the books being submitted to the auditor so why did neither of them realise there was something wrong. Before anyone says that nobody reads the small print she is/was a solicitor and any lawyer will tell you to read the T&C's, small print etc before signing.

Maybe oldnproud, he said to her, “Look into my eyes, look around my eyes” & pretend that motor home doesn’t exist 🤣

The camper van was parked at his mother's house, seemingly.

he told her he won the campervan on Bullseye

Why did he need loads of games consoles including several handheld ones and games such as Call of Duty. Maybe he gave them to people he met in the camper van parked on his mum's drive. Another Hugh Edwards perhaps.

Casdon

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.

Maybe read this for some background information. How Sturgeon treated people who were questioning possible discrepancies in SNP accounts is beyond excusable. She was repeatedly warned that there were problems but she deflected and silenced these "dissenters". Why on earth did she not listen - unless she knew.

Nicola Sturgeon showed 'lack of curiosity' over missing funds, Cherry says - BBC News share.google/cZ5UdzJjfeLbjz5iQ

He'll never get away from the slouch pouch onesie! That will haunt him.

The money didn't come from the taxpayer but from SNP funds, money ordinary folk, most of them probably on small incomes, had donated because they wanted Scotland to be independent and thought that would give them fairer government and better lives.

Thanks OldFrill, I just read that. Provided that this ex Cabinet member is truthful, I don’t know what to think. Either Murrell was indeed a very clever conman, or a number of senior SNP figures, as well as Sturgeon, have been lying throughout the investigation process, including lying to the police.

What's also fascinating that none of this blew up before the May election, can’t think why?

Chaitriona

The money didn't come from the taxpayer but from SNP funds, money ordinary folk, most of them probably on small incomes, had donated because they wanted Scotland to be independent and thought that would give them fairer government and better lives.

Not all from donations, some from taxpayers. The govt provide funds to political parties:

The Policy Development Grants Scheme
The Policy Development Grants Scheme is £2 million of funding from the UK Parliament which is distributed by the Electoral Commission to political parties with at least two sitting members of the House of Commons who have taken the oath of allegiance. The grant gives political parties funding to develop policies to include in their election manifestos.

I suspect the latter casdon; she was very insistent that the state of finance should not be discussed openly in case it deterred supporters from donating their cash. Plus, Alex Salmond warned the pair of them that having Murrell as CEO and her as First Minister was inadvisable. And it wasn't long after that that the allegations against him started....🤔

Casdon

Thanks OldFrill, I just read that. Provided that this ex Cabinet member is truthful, I don’t know what to think. Either Murrell was indeed a very clever conman, or a number of senior SNP figures, as well as Sturgeon, have been lying throughout the investigation process, including lying to the police.

Yes.
That background information does raise a lot of questions.

Siptree

Why did he need loads of games consoles including several handheld ones and games such as Call of Duty. Maybe he gave them to people he met in the camper van parked on his mum's drive. Another Hugh Edwards perhaps.

Younger male friends perhaps. The games such as Grand Theft Auto are very popular with younger (much younger) men. Maybe young relatives. I very much doubt they were for personal use.

Bambino

The camper van was parked at his mother's house, seemingly.

You would think his mother would have questioned it. Did ‘Wee Burnie’ not visit the mil? 🤔

monami

he told her he won the campervan on Bullseye

Bullseye finished in the 90s, did it not?

Silvershadow

From the BBC:

Murrell spent more than £5,700 on coffee machines
published at 14:37
14:37
And the list goes on...
Murrell used SNP finances to buy a number of high-end coffee machines and luxury coffee beans.
The schedule of items includes a Miele CM 6300 machine on 24 November 2014, which cost £1,299.
Then on 1 February 2017 he used £1,865.75 of party money to buy a Jura bean-to-coffee machine.
And on 10 October 2018 he invested in a Jura 28 fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine, which cost £2,595.
The schedule shows Murrell bought Portuguese coffee beans on a number of occasions.
In May 2017 he spent £84.95 on five packs of gourmet beans and £123.91 on five packs of roasted beans.
Murrell also bought traditional instant coffee with SNP cash.
This included 2kg of Nescafe Gold Blend in May 2018 for £81.16.

There it is then. He was a coffee addict.

What he is is an absolute disgrace…😡

Maybe he had MH like Bi-Pola disorder. Where shopping can become a compulsion.