We know more about Murrell's crimes - but questions remainpublished at 13:00 BST

13:00 BST

James Cook
Scotland editor

We now know a little more about how Peter Murrell carried out his crimes.

The Crown described the scope of his corruption, from luxury items to mundane household goods.

At one end of the scale, Murrell recorded the £9,350.25 purchase of two Bremont watches as "event merchandise". At the other he entered a £23.98 egg poacher in SNP accounting software as "ethernet cabling".

Various items described in court link back to the home Murrell shared with Nicola Sturgeon. Police found a £3,500 silver wine coaster there. He also used SNP funds to pay for a fitted home library, a kitchen unit for the boiler and mats in the hallway.

But we also learned today that the majority of his spoils were not recovered.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she was deceived and betrayed by her estranged husband and that she knew nothing of his crimes.

But there are still many outstanding questions for both Sturgeon and the current SNP leader, First Minister John Swinney, about how the party failed to spot theft on such a scale.

The former first minister, Labour's Jack McConnell, wants a joint Westminster and Holyrood parliamentary inquiry into the circumstances of the crimes.

This morning he told me that Sturgeon and Swinney were making "a big mistake” by “digging in” over the past week, accusing them of “basically saying 'nothing to be seen here, nothing to learned’".

Finally, there is also the outstanding – and glaring – question of why Murrell did it.

Why did he purchase nine vacuum cleaners costing around £4,000 in four years?

Why did he buy a luxury motorhome, kit it out with a television, an Alessi teapot and Molton Brown toiletries, and buy travel guides to Britain and Ireland – then only drive it four miles?

Murrell's lawyer John Scullion KC said he would enter a plea in mitigation at sentencing on 23 June. A social work report is also being produced for that hearing.

Maybe then we will obtain a glimpse into the mind of a man whose journeys are now taken not in a camper van but a prison van.

We're now bringing our live coverage to an end, you can read more in our news story. This page was edited by Graeme Esson and Mary McCool. Our writers were Megan Bonar, James Delaney, Jacob Phillips and Craig Hoyle, with Paul O'Hare reporting from court.

Paul O'Hare
at the High Court in Edinburgh

A narrative of facts hearing around Peter Murrell’s £400,000 embezzlement from the SNP has taken place at the High Court in Edinburgh - here are the key takeaways:

• Murrell instructed his legal team to explore the possibility of a guilty plea on 3 March. The Crown was then told he intended to admit his crimes on 21 May - four days before he appeared in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh

• The former SNP chief executive used misleading codes on accounting software to cover his tracks describing, for example, luxury watches as "event merchandise" and the robotic lawnmower as "legal fees"

• As CEO of the party, Murrell had “ultimate approval of all expenses claims submitted, including his own.” This allowed him to make more than £18,400 of bogus claims

• Murrell claimed he had inadvertently made some purchases with his own credit card, rather than the party one, and submitted false expenses claims to recoup the money

• Only Murrell was insured to drive the £124,550 motorhome for social, domestic and pleasure purposes. The court heard he had suggested to other party employees that the vehicle could have been used for “campaigning purposes” but it never was. The narrative states: “It was configured exactly as a motorhome used for pleasure would be”

David Henderson
Scotland news correspondent

As well as a hefty prison sentence, Peter Murrell is also set to face legal action to recover the money he embezzled.

Prosecutors are likely to serve notice on him through proceeds of crime legislation.

The judge would then make a confiscation order, requiring payment to the state.

The law doesn't allow the Crown to confiscate property or assets directly - it's an order for payment.

Normally the courts grant six months to pay.

Murrell may have to sell his share of the family home and dig into savings and pensions to pay this debt.

Failure to pay can result in a jail term - but even that doesn't cancel out the debt.

The amount actually recovered in cases like this often falls well short of the amount embezzled - especially if the money has been spent on consumables, holidays, and luxury goods that depreciate.

When that happens, there can be relatively little left to confiscate.

The resale value of the motorhome bought by Murrell could be a fraction of the original outlay.

Today, his lawyer told the court there will be repayment of the sum embezzled. So it seems he's got enough savings and assets to pay the debt.

James Cook
Scotland editor

Image source, Getty Images

On Monday, former Labour first minister Jack McConnell said the UK and Scottish parliaments should hold a joint inquiry into Peter Murrell's financial crimes.

The peer said a standalone Holyrood inquiry might be seen as presiding over a "cover up", while a Westminster one might be perceived as carrying out "a hatchet job" on the SNP.

Separately, John Swinney was urged by Scottish Labour to back a Holyrood probe into Murrell's crimes.

However the first minister said he did not believe an inquiry was needed following a five-year "forensic" police investigation.

Angus Cochrane
BBC Scotland senior political reporter

Image source, PA Media

Facing MSPs for the first time after Murrell admitted his crimes, John Swinney denied criticism from opposition MSPs - that he was trying to sweep a scandal "under the carpet".

Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton also said the public would question why Nicola Sturgeon did not face further action following the police investigation into SNP finances.

A reminder - Sturgeon has denied any wrongdoing and said she had "no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds".

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Three hours after Murrell's guilty plea last week, First Minister John Swinney addressed a press conference. He said the SNP's former chief executive was responsible for a "terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal".

Swinney was repeatedly asked by journalists if he would apologise to party members.

He stressed Murrell was responsible but added: "If it helps, I'll say sorry to everyone involved."

The first minister, who appeared visibly shaken towards the end, said the level of "personal horror and betrayal" was difficult to convey.

Referring to the now infamous motorhome purchased by Murrell, Swinney said he had "no idea" why it was purchased.

During the election campaign the party hired a bus for two weeks.

But Swinney added: "What we could’ve needed a campervan for is beyond me."

David Wallace Lockhart
Political correspondent in Edinburgh

John Swinney has previously indicated that he felt the SNP's internal processes were sufficient, but that Murrell's criminal behaviour allowed them to be bypassed.

However, the narrative we've heard this morning definitely raises questions for the SNP as an organisation.

It seems that Murrell was able to spend relatively freely using party cards, and that he was making huge cash transfers from their accounts.

He even used the charge cards of other staff members and was able to approve his own expenses - sometimes without a receipt or invoice.

It looks like the SNP's internal processes at least played a role in allowing Murrell to avoid detection for so long.

That said, there is no denying he went to extreme lengths to cover his tracks, including creating false invoices.

And Swinney has indicated that oversight has been tightened up recently.

Image source, Police Scotland

One of Scotland’s most senior police officers has said Murrell showed “utter contempt” for the trust placed in him.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said the former SNP chief executive “abused his privileged position” in order to “bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford”.

He added: “From 2010 to 2022 he spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on luxury goods while carefully trying to hide his criminality with false receipts and accounting.

“He must now face the consequences of his actions.”

David Cowan
Home Affairs Correspondent, BBC Scotland

This is believed to be the first time a narrative hearing has been live-streamed and filmed in a UK court.

Earlier we set out the reasons why the BBC sought permission to film this particular stage in the legal process. The coverage is a step forward in a journey started by Scotland's courts many years ago.

In 1994, BBC Scotland was allowed to film two men sitting in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh as they were jailed for an armed robbery. It was unheard of at the time for news reports and it's never happened again, until today.

Since 2012, long before it happened in England, news cameras have been allowed to film Scottish judges passing sentence in major cases. The rules are strict; we can't show anything else that has happens in court that day.

But recently, on a couple of occasions, greater access has been granted.

Late last year, BBC news cameras were allowed in for a case which involved a brutal gangland attack. They recorded what was said during the hearing by the prosecution, defence and judge but did not film the men in the dock.

Judges passing sentence in England is live-streamed very often these days and in Scotland, the criminal appeal court is live-streamed.

Today, we were allowed to film and live stream what was said by the lawyers and judge, and also to take brief shots of Peter Murrell entering and leaving the courtroom.

Scotland's top judge Lord Pentland is leading a push for "open justice," to improve public understanding of our courts by making them more accessible.

It's impossible to imagine news crews ever being allowed to film ongoing trials, but when juries and witnesses aren't involved, we can expect to see more of this kind of access in years to come.

Aimee Stanton
BBC Scotland Data Visualisation team

BBC Scotland's data and visual journalism team sifted through more than 1,000 entries on Peter Murrell's charge sheet to build our own database of his spending habits.

This data-heavy project meant removing hundreds of purchases from a breakdown of the original charge where both defence and prosecution had agreed they were not part of the financial fraud.

We then categorised each entry into a theme, for example home-related buys or food and drink.

Once the database was complete, we were able to build a searchable table to show what Murrell bought, when he bought it and where from.

It also meant we could analyse his spending habits - we looked at purchases around key dates such as birthdays, Christmases and the Covid pandemic, as well as annual trends, price bands, and significant buys.

You can read the full analysis here.

David Henderson
Scotland news correspondent

What stands out from the Crown narrative is Murrell's persistence, his cynicism and his devious tactics.

It reveals how he used his privileged access to the SNP's accounting system to feather his own nest in a whole range of ways - with credit cards, SNP charge cards and direct transfers of money.

That may go some way towards explaining how the SNP's auditors, party officials and his estranged wife Nicola Sturgeon apparently failed to spot his criminal activities over many years.

He put false data into the system and claimed embezzled funds were for humdrum party purposes. This was enough to fool enough people, for enough of the time, to get away with more than £400,000.

So now we know how he did it.

But we still don't really understand why.

He's yet to say - and the Crown narrative sheds no light on that. Perhaps he'll offer some explanation to the court, before he's sentenced later this month.

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Nicola Sturgeon was one of the biggest political talents of her generation, with a steely determination and devotion to her work.

That's partly because she was emotionally driven and connected to a cause.

And more than anything, perhaps, it's because she was an expert communicator - controlled, on top of her arguments, comfortable in the debating chamber, or on a visit to a school or hospital.

Whether during the pandemic, or during the years of Brexit screaming matches, she was feared by some other politicians, and grudgingly admired by many more.

Read more here.

On Sunday Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC she feels like she is "serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit".

In an exclusive interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Sturgeon refused to apologise for the scandal and struggled to hold back tears, recalling gifts from Murrell that turned out to have been purchased with stolen money.

Sturgeon said: "I am not responsible for the crimes that my former husband committed and I'm not going to apologise for somebody else's crimes."

She has consistently denied any knowledge of Murrell's wrongdoing, committed between 2010 and 2022.

Read more here.

Paul O'Hare
at the High Court in Edinburgh

Image source, Getty Images

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has maintained that she knew nothing about the crimes of her estranged husband, both online and in interviews.

Last week, in a post on Instagram, she said she was “angry, hurt, sad and very distressed” about the impact of Murrell’s actions on family, friends and the SNP.

She added: “To be deceived and let down by the husband I loved and trusted has caused me acute pain.

“Why he acted as he did is, and always will be, beyond my comprehension.”

Sturgeon also said she had "had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever" that Murrell was using SNP funds for personal purposes.

Her position is that she had no reason to doubt Murrell had used his own money as they were both earning high salaries, had separate bank accounts and she had no access to his financial records.

The former first minister was arrested as part of Operation Branchform and later cleared of any involvement.

David Henderson
Scotland news correspondent

Image source, Scottish Prison Service

HMP Dumfries, where Murrell is likely to begin his prison sentence, can hold up to 135 long-term and short-term men who need to be separated from mainstream prisoners because of the nature of their offence - termed "offence-related protection prisoners".

Disgraced politicians, former police officers and ex-prison staff have all spent time in the cells at Dumfries.

And the conditions are notably better than the alternatives.

The chief inspector of prisons described it as "a safe prison, if not the safest in Scotland," praising the "mutual respect" between staff and inmates.

The building is Victorian and conditions are basic.

But for a high-profile prisoner who needs separation from the general population and a safe, stable environment, Dumfries is the obvious fit.

Another option is Castle Huntly, the open prison near Dundee, as it houses low-risk non-violent prisoners.

Murrell can't be sent there initially - it's a progression prison, not a first destination after sentencing.

But if he's classified as low-risk and well-behaved, he could potentially be transferred there for the final stretch of his sentence.

His profile creates its own problems.

He's now one of the most recognisable faces in Scottish politics.

He may need protection from other prisoners - not because fraud carries the stigma of sex offences, but because a man who embezzled SNP funds while living in luxury may not find much sympathy on any wing - especially among prisoners with nationalist sympathies.

David Henderson
Scotland news correspondent

Peter Murrell is currently on remand at HMP Edinburgh - known as Saughton - a 107-year-old prison just a few miles from where he went to school.

After sentencing on 23 June, he could stay there or be moved.

The problem for someone like Murrell is that Scotland has no low-security prisons for white-collar criminals. In England, a 61-year-old first offender convicted of embezzlement would almost certainly go to an open prison.

In Scotland, that option doesn't exist.

So he'll serve his time in a mainstream jail alongside murderers, drug dealers and violent offenders.

Possible destinations are Saughton itself, HMP Addiewell in West Lothian - which houses a number of white-collar offenders but was described by the chief inspector of prisons as having the worst conditions she'd encountered - or HMP Low Moss near Glasgow, which is at least modern.

Perhaps the most likely first option is HMP Dumfries.

Aimee Stanton
BBC Scotland Data Visualisation team

Not all items bought by Murrell were luxury watches or high-end kitchenware.

He also bought cheaper items like Neutrogena hand cream, super glue, and curry sauce paste.

Analysis by BBC Scotland found more than two thirds (64%) of Murrell's purchases were under £100.

Paul O'Hare
at the High Court in Edinburgh

The case was heard before a hushed courtroom but there were some muted chuckles as certain items were read out, such as the robotic lawnmower.

Murrell has been heavily criticised on social media for his spectacular spending spree, with the motorhome featuring prominently in many posts.

But the grim reality of this saga is that hard-earned money given to the SNP by members and donors was used to bankroll the life of its chief executive.

Last week Lord Young told Murrell he was responsible for a “gross breach of trust” and that will no doubt be reflected in the sentence he hands out three weeks from now.

Murrell was one of the best liked figures in Scottish politicspublished at 10:58 BST

10:58 BST

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Until his arrest Peter Murrell was not a household name.

His unassuming demeanour helped him stay in the background while Nicola Sturgeon took centre-stage.

Yet he was one of the best liked figures in Scottish politics.

Journalists found him to be helpful, friendly and co-operative, particularly during party conferences.

It would be Murrell who would facilitate early morning or late night access to the venue for live broadcasts and who would gossip with the media while his now-estranged wife did the broadcast rounds.

The narrative set out in court today explains how he covered up his astonishing spending spree. We're still none the wiser about why he did it.

Aimee Stanton
BBC Scotland Data Visualisation team

Murrell's embezzling began in 2010 and continued until 2022.

His shopping habit ramped up in the years following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, rising to a peak in 2020 when more than 200 purchases were made.

The spending totalled over £150,000, with the motorhome making up the bulk of the value.