A proceeds of crime unit in the Crown Office was behind a ban on Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell selling property, the Daily Record can reveal.
Documents also show the ban relates solely to the marital home the former SNP first minister and Murrell co-own near Glasgow. Operation Branchform is the long-running police investigation into what happened to around £600,000 of indyref2 donations to the SNP.
Murrell was SNP chief executive at the time while Sturgeon was party leader and first minister. The couple’s home in Uddingston was raided in 2023 and Murrell was charged in connection with embezzlement in April last year. As revealed by the Record on Saturday, weeks after Murrell was charged Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain pursued an “inhibition” against him.
An inhibition is when an individual is prevented from selling property or from taking out loans on it. Official documents now provide more detail on a legal curb that was granted on June 5 last year.
One document shows the bar prevents Murrell from selling the home he and Sturgeon bought in 2005 for £228,000. It is the only property listed in the inhibition.
The Lord Advocate is named as the pursuer of the restriction on Murrell but the “agent” for her was an individual at the proceeds of crime unit in the Edinburgh procurator fiscal’s office. Bain recused herself from any part in Branchform. A legal insider said she had no role in the inhibition and her name appearing on it was a technicality.
The Lord Advocate is the head of the prosecution service and the top legal adviser to the Scottish Government. Documents also show that a messenger-at-arms deposited a sealed envelope with the inhibition, as well as a “debt advice and information package”, at the house for the former CEO.
Dropping off the documents was necessary as “after making enquiries I had reasonable grounds for believing that Peter Murrell resides at that place but was not available”. The ban was granted by Lady Carmichael, who was appointed as a judge in 2016 by the late Queen after being recommended by Sturgeon.
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on steps
taken by the Crown during an investigation.
“Court actions must be registered in the name of the Lord Advocate and that reflects a constitutional position and not personal
involvement.
“The investigation into SNP finances is being handled by professional prosecutors from COPFS and independent counsel without the involvement of the Lord Advocate or Solicitor General.”
Last night, opposition MSPs spoke out to urge a quick resolution to Operation Branchform. Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This ongoing investigation into Scotland’s ruling party has dragged Scottish politics into the gutter.
“This latest turn in the ongoing investigation into SNP financial mismanagement will raise eyebrows across Scotland.”
Sturgeon, Murrell and ex-SNP treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested as part of the probe in 2023 but released without charge. Murrell was then charged around a year later and the case is ongoing.
A blue police tent was erected in the couple’s garden as part of the 2023 search of the home. Sturgeon recently announced an end to their marriage.
In a statement this year announcing the split, Sturgeon 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 is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.”
A source told the Record the split is “amicable” and said the couple are still living together.
Sturgeon and Murrell began their relationship in 2003 and married seven years later when she was Alex Salmond’s deputy first minister.
The former first minister has insisted she has done nothing wrong amid the police probe into party finances, saying in December: “It’s not something I have any control over and I don’t think it would be surprising to anybody to hear me say of course I wish it wasn’t there – but it is what it is and it will take its own course.”
Senior SNP figures fear Branchform could be damaging the SNP and want the probe to reach a conclusion.
In a recent article, former SNP MP Tommy Sheppard wrote: “We can’t not talk about it for ever. When I say talk about it, I don’t mean discuss the matters being investigated, nor comment on the evidence being considered, nor opine on the guilt or
innocence of any individual.
“All of that is a matter for the courts and I have no desire to be in their contempt.
“But that does not mean that it is impossible to comment on the process itself or on the political impact that it is having. The
investigation of allegations of misconduct by senior officers of the SNP has been going on for three-and-a-half years. And there is no indication by the agencies involved as to when it might conclude.
“This is having a corrosive effect on Scottish politics.
“At some point it has to end.”
Murrell could not be reached for comment.
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