Police Scotland ‘investigate purchase of £95k Jaguar by Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell amid probe into SNP’s funding and finances’

Police officers are investigating the purchase of a luxury Jaguar as part of their probe into the SNP’s funding and finances, it has been claimed.

Media reports yesterday said Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell is alleged to have purchased the electric I-Pace SUV from a dealership in Edinburgh and subsequently sold it.

It is estimated that the high-end vehicle can cost up to £95,000.

Officers are now looking into the car – one fitting the description was seen on the couple’s driveway in March 2021 – as part of the Operation Branchform investigation.

Both Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell have already been arrested and questioned by officers, before being released without charge pending further investigation.

Former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was also arrested in connection with the long-running Police Scotland investigation into the party’s finances, before also being released without charge pending investigation.

Peter Murrell is alleged to have purchased an I-Pace SUV, seen on Nicola’s driveway, and subsequently sold it

A luxury motorhome was seized from outside Mr Murrell’s mother’s home in Dunfermline earlier this year.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: ‘This is just the latest revelation in the murky financial scandal that has engulfed the SNP. These allegations are incredibly serious and yet again there are crucial questions Peter Murrell must answer.

‘Mr Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon and every other SNP figure involved must be up front and should fully co-operate with the police investigation. The public deserves to know the truth.’

The Jaguar pictured in the driveway of Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon’s home in Glasgow was registered in October 2019. The registered keeper of the vehicle changed in February 2022 and its registration plate was replaced a month later, before being switched back this year.

 Nicola Sturgeon’s husband has already been arrested and questioned by officers, before being released without charge pending further investigation

A source told the Sunday Mail that police have interviewed at least one worker at the dealership about the sale, and added: ‘This is an extremely high-end vehicle, one of the most expensive electric SUVs on the market. The basic price starts at around £80,000 and optional extras can get you up to £95,000.

‘It goes without saying that it is completely outwith the price range of most people.’

The newspaper also quoted a separate source who claimed to have seen Mr Murrell trying to sell an I-Pace at an office of We Buy Any Car near his Glasgow home in late 2021.

Mr Murrell gave the SNP a loan of £107,620 in 2021 to ‘assist with cashflow’.

The party then broke political finance law by failing to disclose it until 14 months later.

Electoral Commission records show £26,905 was repaid to Mr Murrell by the SNP in August 2021, followed by another instalment of £20,715 in October 2021, leaving a further £60,000, which has still not been repaid.

The SNP yesterday refused to say whether the I-Pace had ever been owned by the party.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘We cannot comment on a live police investigation.’

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘As the investigation is on-going we are unable to comment further.’

Earlier this year, then Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said the investigation had ‘moved beyond’ the initial inquiries of alleged fraud.

Attempting to explain why the probe has taken so long, he said: ‘Investigations into the finances of an organisation, finances of an individual, are often complex.

‘You need to obtain information from banks and other institutions. We need to seek judicial warrants for that. There needs to be a process around that.’

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