Nicola Sturgeon has been spotted outside the home of celebrity pal Val McDermid following her separation from Peter Murrell.
It is understood the former first minister has been staying on occasion at the high-end property in Edinburgh’s New Town when she works at Holyrood.
Sturgeon, 54, was seen by neighbours earlier this month in the posh neighbourhood leaving a flat owned by the bestselling crime author.
She was spotted there on January 4 wearing a green jacket and clutching her iPhone. The day before, Sturgeon had posted on Instagram a picture of Edinburgh Castle, with the caption: “One of these days, Edinburgh, when you really melted this Glasgow heart”.
The ex-SNP leader also used Instagram yesterday to announce her marriage with Murrell was over.
Under the heading ‘Personal’, she wrote: “With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage.
“To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it’s time to bring others up to speed with where we are.
“It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will. We will be making no further comment.”
Sturgeon and Murrell have not been seen publicly together for almost two years.
The former first minister previously insisted her marriage was “not something anyone should worry about” after her shock resignation as First Minister in February 2023 following eight years in the job.
The next month Murrell resigned as SNP chief executive after 24 years in the job.
Within weeks Operation Branchform cops raided their home on the outskirts of Glasgow.
The ongoing police investigation has been examining how more than £600,000 of donations were spent by the SNP.
Sturgeon has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Murrell was arrested and charged with embezzlement last year. Prosecutors are still to decide whether he should face trial.
Sturgeon also previously addressed rumours of an affair with a female French diplomat. In an interview with the BBC’s Glenn Campbell, she was asked: “Which French diplomat are you having an affair with?”
Laughing, she replied: “I’ll tell you off-camera which one it’s supposed to be.
“But whichever one it is, we’ve actually had a laugh about it. I read accounts of my life on social media, and I think, ‘It’s so much more glamorous-sounding and so much more exciting’.”
In the same podcast, she spoke of the importance of keeping people close to her out of the spotlight. She said: “It’s partly the nature of the media climate that we live in right now.
“It’s maybe part of the reason that I’m stepping down. I’m not naive, and I’m not of the view that I will step down one day and be completely anonymous the next day. But I want to have a bit more privacy, I want to have a bit more anonymity.
“I just want to protect some of what people take for granted that I’ve forgotten how to have: just the simple pleasures of being able to meet a pal for a coffee.”
Sturgeon will be co-hosting a show with McDermid at Glasgow Comedy Festival in March.
As she attended the launch party at Glasgow’s Social Hub, she said: “We are appearing at this year’s comedy festival which is as much as a joke to us as it is to anybody else.
“We don’t have a double act name but watch this space – it might happen.”
Sturgeon, who drove to the launch party after passing her driving test just over a year ago, stuck to soft drinks while Val went for something stronger.
She said: “I’m going to have a drink. It makes it easier to be driven by Nicola.”
Sturgeon, who will join former SNP MP Mhairi Black at the festival, added: “We think we’re funny but probably our nearest and dearest don’t think we’re funny.
“It’s books and banter.”
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