If you need to sharpen a pencil, you are unlikely to do better than the Caran d'Ache pencil sharpener, with an 80-year-pedigree and a $180 price tag. Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party, is evidently a man of exquisite taste, having forked out £110 for one of the cult objects. Scandalously, though, he was not using it to sharpen the case for Scottish independence, but to wet his whistle: he is off to jail after being convicted of embezzling £400,000 (~$540,000) from his party.
The full details of his embezzlement emerged in the high court in Edinburgh on Monday after he reached a deal with prosecutors brokered over recent weeks to plead guilty to embezzling £400,310.65, avoiding a lengthy trial. Lord Young said Murrell, who was married at the time of the thefts to Nicola Sturgeon, the former SNP leader and first minister, was guilty of a "gross breach of trust". Murrell, dressed in a dark blue suit and black tie, was led away in handcuffs by a court security officer after being remanded in custody. He now faces a lengthy term in jail at his sentencing on 23 June.
Other items he illegally used party funds to enrich his life with include a luxury camper van (£124,550), a robot lawnmower (£3,070) and a Lalique Feuilles salt and pepper grinder set worth £2618.
If early purchases might be reasonable expenses had they been properly accounted for (the first purchase was a Volkswagen Golf, for £33,000), he was soon blowing donations on Jaguars (£57,500) and Juras (£3,232). By the time investigators were on his trail, trivial expenses were piling up amid the big-ticket luxuries. Toilet seats, staples, video games, chopsticks…
Smythson dressing table and tea set – £3,192 (with a discount applied)
Husqvarna robotic lawn mower – £3,070 (including installation cost)
Feuilles salt and pepper grinders – £2618
Shetland Jewellery nine carat gold pendant – £425
Three Nintendo 3DS handheld consoles – £350
PlayStation 3 console – £247
Games including FIFA, Battlefield, the Sims, Grand Theft Auto and Pac Man
Caran d'Ache pencil sharpener – £110
Chopsticks set – £102
Timberland men's loafers – £100
Men's "slouch pouch" onesie – £76
Ideal Standard toilet seats – £67
Goldfish Chinese takeaway curry sauce paste – £12
Staples – £4
Neutrogena hand cream – £2.50
His wife, Nicola Sturgeon, was then Scotland's first minister; arrested in the initial probe, she was soon exonerated but the scandal ended her political career and undermined their party's credibility in the run-up to an important election. She says they led separate financial lives and that his high salary made the items she was aware of unremarkable. The couple are divorcing, according to media reports.
Previously:
• Scotland as seen from the International Space Station
