Sturgeon’s £290 stilettos sold for £4,000 to Murrell at SNP gala
A pair of signed stilettos donated by Nicola Sturgeon to be auctioned at an SNP fundraising event were bought back by her former husband, Peter Murrell, it has emerged.
The then Scottish National Party (SNP) chief executive, who has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP, paid £4000 to buy back the £290 pair of Kurt Geiger stilettos.
Ms Sturgeon gave the green snakeskin high heels to the SNP gala in November 2015, amid Murrell’s embezzlement from the party.
They were signed and displayed in a bespoke case alongside images of Ms Sturgeon wearing them. When bidding stalled at £1500, Murrell stepped in and bought the shoes.
Ms Sturgeon, who was then SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, wore the shoes to visit the then prime minister, Theresa May, at No 10 in October 2016.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay told the Scottish Mail on Sunday: "There was no need for Peter Murrell to buy his wife’s shoes to launder the money he was pilfering from the SNP bank account, because he had total control over it."
"His decision to splurge thousands of pounds on Nicola Sturgeon’s sparkly stilettos must just have been a very brash and public act of showing off".
According to the paper, one attendee at the event on November 20, 2015, said: "Everyone in the room was absolutely astounded that he was prepared to pay that colour of money for his wife’s shoes".
"Looking back, it makes you wonder where the money was coming from. But Nicola didn’t seem worried or concerned".
Another senior SNP source said that Murrell had a "habit" of buying items that the pair had donated to SNP auctions. They said: "I saw Peter bidding very enthusiastically for a collection of fine wines once, but they were bottles that he had donated himself."
"Thinking about it now, that’s really quite strange. Why donate the item if you wanted to keep it?"
"Unless he was trying to show off and look as though he was the big saviour of the party with all of the cash".
The revelations have raised more questions over Ms Sturgeon’s denials that she knew anything about her estranged husband’s embezzlement.
After Murrell pleaded guilty last month to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022, she said she assumed he had funded his purchases using his salary as the SNP’s chief executive.
“We were both earning high salaries and, due to the responsibilities of my job, rarely socialised or went on holidays,” she said.
In a recent interview, Ms Sturgeon said her ex-husband has never explained to her why he took party funds, as she spoke of the “trauma” she has gone through. He is due to be sentenced on June 23.
Deputy Editor
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