Pressure is growing for a full probe into the SNP financial scandal after its former chief executive was jailed for stealing £400,000.

Peter Murrell was locked up for five years and three months at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday after admitting the theft.

The estranged husband of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last month pleaded guilty to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 between 2010 and 2022.

The 61-year-old used the funds to make hundreds of extravagant purchases, including a £124,550 motorhome, cars, jewellery, luxury homewares and designer stationery.

Jailing him, Lord Young told Murrell he had committed a ‘calculated crime of dishonesty’, with a ‘large number of fraudulent acts’.

He added: ‘You found yourself unable to stop this offending, and it was only the detection of the crime that brought it to an end.’

Current First Minister John Swinney and Ms Sturgeon were accused of having effectively enabled his ‘brazen’ theft because of the lack of controls within the party and ‘hostility’ towards those raising concerns.

It led to growing calls for a full parliamentary inquiry into crucial issues including whether public funds were involved.

After one of the highest profile criminal convictions in British political history, it emerged on Tuesday:

• Detectives were frustrated that Nicola Sturgeon failed to answer all of their questions despite her claim she ‘fully cooperated’ with the inquiry
• Mr Swinney said the case was ‘agony’ but suggested he could forgive Murrell for his crime.
• The Crown Office said Murrell’s preliminary court hearing was delayed in the ‘interests of justice’
• Clips of a police interview with Murrell were released showing him responding ‘no comment’ as officers confronted him
• He will be eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence – or even earlier if the SNP extends automatic release to longer term prisoners

Demands have now been made for a full inquiry into the scandal.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘Peter Murrell has been brought to justice for his crimes, although he could be out in just over two years due to weak SNP sentencing policies.

‘But the question remains: how did he get away with this brazen and large-scale crime spree for so many years? The hard truth for Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney is that they effectively enabled Murrell.

‘By assuring SNP members that the finances were sound, and issuing warnings to those raising valid concerns, they allowed Murrell to think that he was untouchable. 

'It was only when Police Scotland were alerted to the missing independence referendum funds that they discovered Murrell’s thefts.

‘It’s no wonder that Swinney is so desperate to thwart an inquiry which would examine many issues, including whether public money was stolen.’

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie added: ‘There are still serious questions which remain unanswered about this appalling scandal, such as why Murrell was able to get away with stealing vast sums of money for over a decade and why no-one within the SNP had any curiosity about the state of the party’s finances.

‘John Swinney and the SNP have shamelessly tried to sweep this under the carpet by stubbornly refusing to accept that a parliamentary inquiry could help get to the bottom of these issues.’

SNP and Green MSPs previously united to defeat calls for a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the scandal.

Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee is also considering whether to launch a probe.

But Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘John Swinney’s refusal to sanction an inquiry into whether public money was stolen looks nakedly self-serving.

‘With the SNP and their Green allies blocking such a probe at Holyrood, the UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs committee should step in.’

And former SNP MP Joanna Cherry said: ‘Murrell would not have got away with what he did for so long without the hostility to debate, transparency and scrutiny enforced by the SNP leadership and their cronies and the harassment and intimidation of those who dared to speak up. That is why we need an independent inquiry.’

But Mr Swinney rejected the calls saying there was ‘a very clear criminal justice conclusion’ to the case.

During sentencing, Lord Young said Mr Murrell had managed to ‘circumvent’ checks and balances because of his position of authority in the party but also said that the manner of the embezzlement was ‘not particularly sophisticated’.

Asked if he owes members an apology for inadequate controls in light of the judge’s comments, Mr Swinney said the length of time police spent investigating the case ‘demonstrates that this has been an operation that has gone to considerable lengths to conceal’.

But pressed on whether Ms Sturgeon and other senior figures in the SNP had questions to answer over why they didn’t detect the crime over so many years, he said: ‘When you believe that there are financial controls in place, I think it is a reasonable assumption to believe that they are going to be exercised, particularly in an environment where there was obviously a very heavy reliance on trust.

‘And it’s not surprising because we are all supposed to be in the SNP working together for the same endeavour to achieve our political objectives. 

'You don’t naturally go through life believing that somebody in your midst has embezzled £400,000 over a 12-year period. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t have popped into my head to think that was likely to happen.

‘There is a reasonable expectation that procedures are put in place and that they operate appropriately with sufficient checks and balances. 

'Clearly, those checks and balances were subverted so we now have in place varied governance procedures to make sure we have proper and effective financial and operational governance in the party.’

Asked whether the arrangement where a party leader was married to its chief executive ‘inhibited scrutiny’, Mr Swinney said: ‘I’ve previously accepted that that has not been a good arrangement’.

Speaking to journalists at Holyrood ahead of a meeting of the SNP’s MSPs, Mr Swinney said he and members felt ‘let down by the betrayal of trust’ by Murrell, and said he hoped the sentencing would bring ‘closure’.

He said he is ‘a forgiving person’ but declined to say whether he had forgiven Murrell.

He added: ‘I cannot understate the sense of hurt and distress and betrayal that I feel about what has happened here.’

He said he didn’t understand why the crime happened but didn’t think he would visit Murrell in prison to try to understand his motives.

On his own role in the case, he said: ‘I was not a serving office bearer in the Scottish National Party from 2004 to 2024, so I had no operational right to look at these things.

‘But is it distressing, is it hurtful, is it agony? Yes, all of those things.’

He said he wants to ensure the party’s losses are ‘fully addressed’ by a compensation order. On whether he expects the motorhome which was seized by police to be returned, he said that ‘the SNP has no use for a motorhome’.