Revelations have surfaced suggesting that Scotland’s top legal official informed John Swinney about the legal proceedings against Peter Murrell, former SNP chief executive, nearly a year prior. These insights come from newly released documents that have been described as ‘explosive’.
The serious charges against Murrell, who is the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, only became widely known earlier this month when the court’s list of charges was disclosed to the public.
However, it has come to light that Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC communicated the charges to the First Minister in an email as early as January, igniting controversy over potential impartiality issues.
Lord Advocate Bain has since issued documents showing that Mr. Swinney, who also serves as the SNP leader, was informed of the case specifics 10 months earlier, back in March 2025. This was the same time Mr. Murrell made a private court appearance.
The Scottish Conservatives have criticized these revelations, released by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), accusing Mr. Swinney of receiving ‘covert information’ regarding the ‘highly sensitive’ case involving Mr. Murrell.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay expressed his dismay, stating, “It is appalling to learn that the Lord Advocate informed John Swinney about the delicate criminal proceedings against Nicola Sturgeon’s spouse nearly a year ago.”
‘While she gave Mr Swinney this dubious private briefing, the Crown Office was refusing to provide the same details to the public and the media who were kept in the dark.
Nicola Sturgeon with her estranged husband Peter Murrell, seen here in 2016
It emerged on Wednesday that First Minister John Swinney learned details about the allegations Mr Murrell faces last year
‘Sleekit Swinney should explain why he failed to come clean about getting this information almost a year ago.’
The Tories are now demanding Ms Bain – who as the senior legal adviser to ministers is also part of the Scottish Cabinet – must return to Holyrood to answer questions from MSPs.
Mr Murrell, 61, stands accused of embezzling almost £460,000 from the SNP between August 2010 and January 2023.
He had been expected to appear at the High Court in Glasgow for a preliminary hearing on February 20 but this was moved to May 25 at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The latest developments comes after the Lord Advocate’s unprecedented grilling at Holyrood last week.
The revelations are likely to prompt fresh questions about what the Lord Advocate told MSPs, as well as renewed claims that it was inappropriate for the First Minister to be given privileged information on the highly politically sensitive case.
Ms Bain was accused of giving a useful warning to Mr Swinney which could be used by the SNP for political purposes ahead of May’s Holyrood election, but she denied this was the case.
Last week, after it emerged information about the £460,000 charge was briefed to the First Minister in a memo on January 19 this year, Ms Bain told Holyrood: ‘The whole purpose of the intimation to the First Minister was because of the significant development of information entering the public domain at that point.’
But the newly released memo confirms Mr Swinney was given the information on the £460,000 ten months earlier.
The Lord Advocate’s memo from March 20, 2025, states: ‘Crown Counsel have decided that Peter Murrell should appear on petition at Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with embezzling over £460,000 from the SNP.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain has come under pressure over her role in the Crown Office and the Scottish Cabinet
Mr Murrell pictured giving evidence to a committee examining the handling of harassment allegations against Alex Salmond in 2020
‘A petition appearance is the first formal step taken in court proceedings in relation to a serious crime.
‘A petition appearance is a private hearing before the sheriff to which the public are not admitted.’
Ms Bain denied misleading parliament over the Murrell row but said: ‘I have identified that there needs to be a more robust approach in identifying and sharing material with Government by prosecutors and have instructed Crown Office to formalise their processes into a policy which will be published on their website.
‘I have been criticised for saying the terms of the indictment can become public at any time after service.
‘I did not mislead parliament.’
She said: ‘After service of an indictment, its terms can be made public at any time including by an accused person.’
Labour said the ‘bombshell documents raise far more questions than they answer for John Swinney and his Government’.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie claimed the SNP Government ‘is drowning in sleaze and cover-ups’.
She said: ‘John Swinney received crucial information almost a year ago, while journalists and the public were kept in the dark.’
Tory MSP Douglas Ross spoke out in Holyrood to demand a new statement from the Lord Advocate.
He said: ‘For almost a year the only person not involved in this criminal trial to have information about the scale of alleged embezzlement was Scotland’s First Minister and the leader of the SNP.
‘Why did the Lord Advocate feel the need to provide that information to the SNP leader in March of last year, and then again in January this year?
‘We need to hear from the Lord Advocate in this chamber to answer these questions.’
He told parliamentary business minister Graeme Dey that if he does not agree to a statement, he would ‘stand up here every day until the Government concede’.
Mr Dey said he had ‘no intention’ of scheduling a statement by the Lord Advocate on Tuesday.
Yesterday Ms Bain sent the Murrell ‘tip off’ memo to Holyrood Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, together with other previous memos sent by the Lord Advocate’s office to the First Minister on a wide range of topics including the Lockerbie bombing investigation.
One, written by her predecessor Frank [now Lord] Mulholland, related to the ‘naked rambler’ Stephen Gough, who had been arrested on numerous occasions over his ‘unwillingness to wear clothes in public’.
It was sent to Alex Salmond in 2012 and copied to the then Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill – telling them it was hoped that ‘future strategies to deal with him’ can be devised.
Commenting on the Murrell memo, Crown agent John Logue, chief executive of the COPFS and Scotland’s most senior professional prosecutor, said: ‘The Lord Advocate has updated parliament in line with the commitment she gave last week.
‘Throughout, she and all prosecutors involved have acted in accordance with their legal duties.
‘It is now important that the legal processes are allowed to run their course, so that the issues can be determined fairly and properly in court.
A COPFS spokesman said: ‘Scotland’s prosecutors act independently and in the public interest in all cases.’
