STV NewsPeter Murrell has had his legal aid withdrawn after being jailed for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP.
The SNP’s former chief executive is currently serving a five-year jail sentence for embezzlement.
Murrell, who is the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, had an application for solemn legal aid approved by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) in July last year.
The SLAB confirmed on Wednesday that it has stopped providing funds for Murrell.
Legal aid is typically granted to people who cannot afford to pay for legal help themselves, though in some cases, they still need to make their own contribution.
Murrell had been chief executive of the SNP for more than 20 years.
He stood down in 2023, after the home he shared with Sturgeon was searched by police investigating what happened to £660,000 in donations given to the party.
It was part of an investigation, called Operation Branchform, that lasted almost four years.
It was found that over a 12-year period, he embezzled more than £400,000 from the party, spending money donated by supporters on luxury goods, gifts and personal purchases.
Murrell was charged in April last year and was sentenced to five years and three months in jail in June 2026.
He is set to return to the High Court later this year as Crown lawyers try to recover the assets he seized illegally from the party.
Murell was set to be brought from his cell in HMP Dumfries to Edinburgh in September, but the hearing was adjourned, and the case will now be called at the High Court in Edinburgh later this year.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) said it is “bound by strict rules that govern what we can say about individual legal aid applications.”
However, they did confirm that Murrell was no longer receiving legal aid.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Legal Aid Board said: “Legal aid and data protection legislation strictly limits what SLAB can disclose about individual applications. We can confirm the individual is no longer in receipt of legal aid.”
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “This affluent crook, along with Scotland’s wealthy organised criminals, shouldn’t get a single penny of taxpayers’ money to pay their lawyers.”
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