Sturgeon: I was not even considered for prosecution in SNP police probe
The former first minister told an event she will not apologise for the crimes of her estranged husband Peter Murrell
Nicola Sturgeon has insisted she will not apologise for the crimes of her estranged husband Peter Murrell as she claimed she was "not even considered for prosecution" in the SNP finances probe.
The former first minister told an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that she had been "totally cleared" following the long-running police investigation into the party's finances.
She was arrested in June 2023 and questioned by detectives for more than seven hours before being released without charge. In March 2025, Police Scotland confirmed she was no longer under investigation.
Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, pled guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party earlier this year and was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
"I am very, very, very sorry that it happened,” Ms Sturgeon told the Book Festival event, in which she was appearing alongside former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin. “Like, more sorry than I can ever find words really to properly convey.
"I've been a member of the SNP since I was 16 years old. The SNP is my extended family. I love it and I don't say that lightly.
"So the idea somebody so close to me, who also had that relationship with the party, could do what he did affects me on a level that again I find quite hard to articulate."
She added: "I can say I'm very sorry that it happened but I don't think it is for me to apologise for the crimes of somebody else, because they're not my crimes.
"I do think that is an important distinction. I've been utterly cleared after a very stressful two-year investigation. Totally cleared, was not even considered for prosecution.
"What he did has affected me deeply and was a deep betrayal of me, something I will probably be coming to terms with for quite some time.
"So I can be sorry something happened, but I don't think I should say sorry for somebody else's crimes.
"It's for the person who committed the crimes to say sorry. That's what I did when I made a mistake and will always do when I get something wrong. I will always be accountable for my own actions.
"But I will not say sorry for somebody else's mistakes, or in this case crimes."
Ms Sturgeon previously said she would not visit Murrell in prison or speak to him again, insisting he had lied to her “right up to the day he pled guilty”.
Elsewhere, she reiterated her opposition to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
"I think we should absolutely not allow ourselves to regress over climate change,” she told the event.
"We've seen this summer, with wildfires in many places across the UK, the climate crisis is here and it's present.
"In the north-east of Scotland there are a large number of workers whose jobs depend on the energy industry, but we need to transition them into clean energy, not continue to pretend that oil and gas either should or will - because it's a declining asset in the North Sea - provide those jobs in the future.
"So I think we need to be bold and courageous there.
"I would not be for new exploration in the North Sea, and I know that puts me at odds with some people on my side of politics. But I think that's what I mean - it's important to say what you believe."
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