Following what she described as the "worst week of her life" - in which her estranged husband admitted embezzling £400,000 from the SNP - Nicola Sturgeon sat down for her first media interview with the BBC. The conversation was a collision of politics and deeply personal matters, as one might expect when stolen party funds ended up in the marital home.
Some of the ill-gotten gains even became gifts for Sturgeon, who was photographed wearing them. The most glaring example: a £400 pendant from a Shetland jeweller they visited together, which she often wore in public. In one of the interview's most emotional moments, Sturgeon described her pain and bewilderment upon learning it had been bought with stolen cash.
Throughout the conversation, the former first minister insisted she knew nothing of Murrell's crimes, offering a glimpse into their unconventional domestic arrangements. She was busy working long hours as first minister, she said, and wasn't involved in running the household. She gave Murrell money for bills, they had separate bank accounts, and nothing in their home seemed beyond their combined high salaries - including the expensive Jaguar in the driveway, which she claimed not to care about.
As for the high-value watches Murrell admitted buying with SNP cash? Sturgeon said she never saw them and only learned of them when he entered his guilty plea. The infamous motorhome, parked at Murrell's mother's house in Dunfermline? She might have visited while it was there but has no "conscious memory" of seeing it, partly because of how they approached the house and partly because she wouldn't have assumed it belonged to her in-laws, let alone that it was paid for with party funds.
On the political front, Sturgeon rejected any failure in overseeing the SNP's operations, noting nothing suspicious appeared in the party's accounts and that it was up to treasurer Colin Beattie to flag concerns. When others did raise financial worries - specifically that independence campaign funds seemed missing - she drew a distinction between those concerns and Murrell's embezzlement. But the police investigation into that "missing" cash is precisely what uncovered Murrell's theft. Sturgeon conceded that, with hindsight, she shouldn't have let him remain chief executive when she became leader - though he'd started stealing years earlier.
She also expressed openness to publishing her detailed police statement, subject to legal advice, to counter claims she didn't cooperate. Throughout the interview, Sturgeon was determined not to take blame for her estranged husband's crimes, saying she was "deeply sorry" but offering no apology to donors or party members who raised red flags. She said she's still waiting for Murrell to explain his crimes, which she claimed have led to her being unfairly vilified, humiliated, and placed under suspicion.