Peter Murrell bought 108 toilet rolls hours before Nicola Sturgeon's Covid panic buying warning

Peter Murrell bought 108 toilet rolls just hours before then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned the public against panic buying during the Covid pandemic. The former SNP chief executive and now estranged husband of Sturgeon last week admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party following a spending spree spanning more than a decade. Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzlement between August 2010 and October 2022 after a police investigation found he had spent thousands of pounds of SNP funds on luxury goods, including cars, cosmetics and kitchenware.

However, shortly before his guilty plea was formally entered at the High Court in Edinburgh last Monday, prosecutors removed several items from the indictment — including, bizarrely, the purchase of 1226 toilet rolls. Court documents show Murrell was initially accused of using SNP funds to buy 108 luxury Andrex toilet rolls on March 7 2020 at a cost of £55.98. Just 48 hours later, Sturgeon appeared at a press conference urging Scots not to panic buy and to “apply common sense” amid supermarket shortages as the pandemic loomed. The documents alleged Murrell doubled his purchases of packs of 54 toilet rolls to 108 rolls — as Sturgeon warned the public.

He also went on to buy 16 shower bottles of spray, 144 bottles of Evian still mineral water and four packs of liquid laundry detergent in the weeks after. In December that year, Sturgeon appeared on TV during a Covid briefing where she again warned shoppers there was “no need” for panic buying amid food-shortage f ears in the run-up to Christmas. Following his guilty plea, Murrell was remanded in custody at HMP Edinburgh and is expected to receive a significant custodial sentence when he returns to the High Court next month.

Prison sources told the Sunday Mail that, because of jail overcrowding, Murrell could be forced to share a cell or even spend extended periods segregated for his own protection. One source said: “Due to high numbers in custody, new admissions would normally share a cell, but a risk assessment is conducted first to determine whether they should be managed under suicide prevention procedures. “The only reasons prisoners would not share a cell would generally be medical grounds, suicide watch, or if they were considered extremely violent.

“In Peter’s case, because of media attention, if no individual cell is available he may be kept away from other prisoners until a suitable arrangement becomes available. “He would not be placed in the general population — for his own safety. There is also a possibility he could spend time in the segregation unit until matters settle down.” Murrell, who also spent almost £2000 on gaming equipment , including a Sony PlayStation 3 and a Nintendo DSi XL, could have access to consoles behind bars.

A source added: “Most prisoners are now allowed gaming consoles as long as items go through official channels.” Depending on the custodial sentence handed down, Murrell could be eligible for early release under updated sentencing rules introduced on 12 May. Prisoners serving sentences of four years or less may now qualify for release after serving 30 per cent of their term rather than 40 per cent. The Sunday Mail confronted Murrell at his Glasgow home in March 2023. Wearing slippers, striped pyjama trousers and a blue T-shirt, the then SNP chief executive declined to comment on calls for his resignation amid the police fraud probe.

It was the first time he had been seen publicly since attending the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on 19 September the previous year. Murrell was arrested in 2023 as part of Operation Branchform , the police investigation into SNP finances and funding. The court also published 125 pages of documents detailing purchases allegedly made with party funds, including a luxury motorhome costing £124,550, a Volkswagen Golf and a Jaguar I-PACE. The origional list ran to 1344 items and included luxury watches, a fountain pen costing £4,225, a £1,946 payment to Neville Johnson Ltd towards a fitted library, and a £943 oak library ladder.

Prosecutors also removed allegations relating to cosmetics purchases, including £886 worth of Studio Fix foundation from Estée Lauder. Other removed items included nine makeup organisers costing £116 and a £300 Dyson hairdryer, although Murrell is bald. Murrell’s spending on electric toothbrushes totalled £846.47, with a further £147.25 spent on replacement heads and holders, but prosecutors removed six electric tooth brushes allegedly bought between July 2016 and May 2022. However the purchase of a special-edition Oral-B model costing £249 on 28 May 2022, followed by another costing £232.50 the next day remained.

Sturgeon, 55, who was not charged as part of Operation Branchform and for whom there is no suggestion of wrongdoing, said last week she had been “deceived, betrayed and lied to” by her estranged husband. She also said she had not noticed the expensive kitchenware purchased by Murrell because she did not “spend any time in her kitchen”. Court documents allege Murrell embezzled more than £5000 on Le Creuset cookware and accessories, including oven gloves, wine cooler sleeves, wine openers and 34 cappuccino and espresso mugs.

He also allegedly bought more than 20 salt and pepper mills, including a Lalique Feuilles set worth £2618 as well as cookie jars worth more than £120, eight umbrellas costing £1990.50, luxury candles and a Leica Q camera priced at £3775. Other purchases removed included three toilet seats costs over £330. Prosecutors may seek a proceeds of crime order to recover some of the embezzled funds. Items linked to Sturgeon, including a red Smythson tote bag bought by Murrell for £747.50 in January 2016, Blackwing Matte pencils priced at £32 a box that she used in the Parliament chamber in 2023, and a £1,830 pearl and diamond necklace she wore while campaigning in 2022, could possibly form part of proceedings.

A legal ban on the sale of the home property shared by Sturgeon and Murrell in Uddingston, which was raided by detectives in April 2023, remains in effect. However, the home could be sold in future under proceeds of crime legislation to help repay the money Murrell embezzled. In 2023, we revealed Murrell’s luxury Portuguese bolthole where he had spent holidays with Sturgeon. The whitewashed two-bedroom property sits just a few hundred yards from one of the Algarve’s most beautiful beaches.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “The health and wellbeing of all those in our care is a key priority and everyone who enters custody is assessed, by both our staff and NHS partners, to identify any support that is needed."