Under-fire Nicola Sturgeon has fled Scotland amid the political storm over her husband’s embezzlement of £400,000 from the SNP – and has now set up home in London.

The former First Minister, who has spent her entire political career campaigning for Scotland to leave the UK, has now left the country herself and is renting a luxury house in Britain’s capital.

The move comes amid prosecutors’ attempts to claw back some of her estranged fraudster husband Peter Murrell’s stolen funds – which could see the couple’s family home sold off.

Sources close to Ms Sturgeon said she has taken a property in London as she tries to start a new career in the literary world and hopes to avoid ‘the heat’ over Murrell’s crimes. 

One source said: ‘Nicola has found a place to stay in London, she’s renting it. It shouldn’t be any surprise as she said before that she wanted to get away and try living somewhere else. Lets’ face it – who wouldn’t want to escape with all this going on?’.

A second source confirmed Ms Sturgeon’s departure, adding: ‘She’s down there a lot for work things so it just made sense.’

Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘It’s typical of Nicola Sturgeon to run away from awkward questions. If she is fleeing Scotland to avoid giving an account of her part in this scandal, it will simply reinforce the view that she always puts her own interests above any other considerations.’

In August last year Ms Sturgeon was widely criticised when she hinted she might quit Scotland to live in England. In an interview discussing the release of her memoir, she admitted she might go to London, and said she felt like she ‘can’t breathe freely’ at home.

She said: ‘I think being out of Scotland for a period might just help to reset my perspective and to be more selfish about it, just remove me a little bit from that kind of goldfish bowl scrutiny that I still live under in Scotland.’

Ex-Tory MSP Tess White said the remarks were the ‘definition of hypocrite’ given that ‘Sturgeon still wants Scotland to be separated from the rest of the UK yet she is thinking of moving south for a bit’.

The former SNP leader was due to attend a book event in Edinburgh on Friday to interview Kirsty Lockwood about her new thriller ‘We Know What You Did’ – but it appears she has pulled out of the appearance with her name removed from the event website.

Alongside her literary work, the former MSP has been appointed chair of the board of trustees for refugee charity Safe Passage International and she attended the Royal Courts of Justice in London earlier this month to support the group’s court case with the Home Office.

It comes as we can also reveal the family home of Ms Sturgeon and Murrell could be sold off to pay for his crimes with the pair repaying their mortgage during the height of his thievery.

And relatives of the 61-year-old fraudster could be forced to hand back any gifts he gave them during his 12-year crime spree.

Glasgow-based criminal lawyer Ian Moir said prosecutors will now begin the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) process, which will put the onus on Murrell’s lawyers to prove his assets, including his home, are not linked to his crimes.

The couple bought the four-bedroom detached home in Uddingston in 2005, paying £228,000.

Ms Sturgeon declared she had a mortgage in the 2011-2016 ministerial interests record.

However land records, which were updated in 2020, show no mortgage, meaning the couple had repaid it by that time.

The timeline for repayment coincides with the escalation of Murrell’s embezzlement, which began in August 2010, a month after he and Ms Sturgeon married, but ramped up from 2016 when he bought a Volkswagen Golf for £33,000, using £16,489 in trousered SNP cash.

It could mean some of the cash stolen by Murrell was used to pay for the home, along with a plethora of household items to furnish it and a specially fitted library for Ms Sturgeon to relax in. Mr Moir said: ‘The house will likely be put on the list of assets as part of the proceeds of crime.

‘Nicola Sturgeon would then be able to enter the process as what is called a ‘minuter’. Her lawyer would have to write to Scottish ministers declaring that their client is entitled to half of the house.

‘That isn’t contentious as she has not been convicted of any crime.

‘What could also happen is Nicola Sturgeon could say she wants to buy the other half, but that money she pays would go towards the proceeds of crime.’

Mr Moir said that after a fraudster is convicted, it is then up to their lawyer to prove that all of their assets were bought using legitimate means or they could be seized by prosecutors. The same applies to any gifts bought by Murrell for his wife or relatives.

According to court documents, several purchases from Amazon were sent to the homes of Ms Sturgeon’s sister Gillian and her parents in Irvine as well as to Murrell’s mother’s former home in Dunfermline where he kept the infamous £125,000 campervan.

The list of items bought by Murrell include children’s scooters, exercise clothing, beauty products and hair styling tools.

Mr Moir said: ‘When it comes to gifts, the Crown’s approach would be to view them as ‘tainted’. If the person wants to keep them they’d have to pay for them, or they’ll have to give them over for sale.’

While the police took many items from her home, the former First Minister may still have to hand over anything bought for her that wasn’t already seized.

Mr Moir added that the SNP are unlikely to get any money back following Murrell’s guilty plea.

He explained: ‘The proceeds of crime aspect wouldn’t see any money coming to the SNP. It’s not meant as a compensation tool, it is used as a punishment tool.

‘The only way the SNP would get money back would be if the court imposed a compensation order. But it’s highly unlikely as it would be unlikely that [Peter Murrell] would have the funds to pay any compensation.’

Ms Sturgeon declined to comment on her move to London.