Luxury watches and £220 teapot: Police pictures reveal Peter Murrell's illicit purchases

ByClaire Thomson

BBC Scotland

Perhaps the most high-profile purchase and largest single transaction made by Murrell was the Niessman and Bischoff £124,550 motorhome.

It was dropped off at an industrial estate and driven by Murrell to his mother's address in Dunfermline, where it remained until it was seized by police on 5 April 2023.

New pictures released by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service show the motorhome parked in the driveway to the side of the detached property.

They suggest that Murrell's mother's house had two parking spots - one in front of the garage and another to the side.

Images show the large windows at the front facing onto the street and a window - perhaps with frosted glass - on the side where the motorhome was parked.

The images also show a garden gate to the rear of the vehicle.

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg last month Murrell's estranged wife and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had no "conscious memory" of ever seeing the luxury vehicle.

She said it was "round the sides of the house which is not immediately visible in the way that we went into the home" and "between the house and the next door neighbour's".

Sturgeon told Kuenssberg if she had seen the motorhome she would "probably have assumed it was a neighbour's", adding: "Why would it have crossed my mind that it was the SNP's?"

Murrell's mother lived in a Dunfermline cul-de-sac. It would have been possible to enter and leave her house without passing the end of the driveway where the motorhome was parked.

Police Scotland seized the vehicle during Operation Branchform.

The new motorhome had been driven just four miles, but it appeared ready for touring with kitchen supplies such as cooking utensils, crockery, and plastic containers.

A number of items listed on the charge sheet including Le Creuset and Joseph Joseph kitchen implements, an Alessi teapot and various Molton Brown toiletries were found inside the vehicle.

Look carefully and see the reflection in the £220 mirrored stainless-steel teapot. It shows the motorhome inside a police compound with detectives - in white forensic suits - photographing some of the contents.

Other items such as an Oxo wooden spoon set, a Le Creuset wine stopper and Wusthof shears - all bought on Amazon - were photographed inside the motorhome.

A Peugeot salt and pepper mill worth £31.65 was also part of the collection but there was no police issued picture of the ostentatious Lalique salt and pepper grinders, bought in 2020 for £2,618.

It is unclear if the Lalique salt and pepper grinders were ever found.

On 5 April 2023, Murrell was arrested at the Glasgow home he shared with Sturgeon.

The house was sealed off with blue and white tape, while a tent was erected on the driveway. Items were brought from the house to the tent, where a vehicle was parked. Many of the images were taken inside the property.

Some goods were left in situ, including a fitted home library which was partly paid for with SNP funds, a wooden library ladder, a kitchen unit for the boiler, and fitted mats in the hallway.

Sturgeon posted pictures on social media, or during broadcasts from her house, which showed the library ladder and bookshelves in shot.

On 25 April 2021 the Press Association news agency photographed Sturgeon during an appearance on the BBC One current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. The £943 library ladder was visible in the background.

From the library unit, new pictures issued by the COPFS show two copies of Women Hold Up Half the Sky by Nicola Sturgeon and two copies of Break-Up: How Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon Went to War by David Clegg and Kieran Andrews.

Most of the books were not included within the final indictment.

A black Sonos speaker, which was included in the schedule, could also be seen on one of the shelves.

Dyson products featured heavily on Murrell's shopping list.

He made many repeat purchases of the same items. For example, nine vacuum cleaners costing just under £4,000 bought in the space of four years.

One of the photographs shows a Dyson SV12 vacuum valued at £499.99, found in what appears to be the loft of the Glasgow home.

On one side of the vacuum, there is a Fortnum and Mason musical advent calendar - similar to the one listed in the schedules of the indictment - and a wooden hamper wrapped in plastic.

To the other side there is what looks like a Scalextric track on the floor and cardboard boxes are in the background.

Elsewhere in the house, a HD01 Dyson hairdryer and box purchased for £349.99 was recovered, as well as a Dyson Supersonic stand.

A £656.94 Dyson lamp bought from John Lewis was also found in the corner of a room next to a wall lined with bookshelves.

Sturgeon had previously been photographed sitting on the chair in that room. However, when the Press Association took a picture on 12 September 2021 the Dyson lamp was not there.

More than 100 pages of court documents which showed the wide range of items Murrell bought over a 12-year period revealed thousands of pounds went on kitchen implements and appliances.

Le Creuset seemed to be a favourite of the former SNP chief executive, with £289 worth of mugs located during the search.

Two stoneware Mickey Mouse ramekins purchased for £39 were recovered from the garage.

Eight Le Creuset mugs were photographed in a drawer under what appears to be the kitchen counter and next to an oven.

Another six were pictured on a counter with the Police Scotland production label stating they were found in a drawer under the boiler.

The boiler cupboard was also photographed by officers as a stolen item. It was purchased for £367.22 including delivery.

On 5 April 2023, officers could be seen searching a small shed and storage box in the back garden and a police photographer was seen taking pictures.

Police recovered a garden edger from Manufactum in one of the storage boxes next to other spades, trowels and garden shears.

DIY and gardening made up the second highest number of criminal purchases.

Murrell made several purchases for a Netatmo weather station including rain gauges, wireless anemometers with wind speed and direction sensors and a mount.

The weather station was photographed on a fence in front of a hedge in the back garden of Murrell's home.

Its yellow sticker can be seen in a close-up of the garden on Google Maps.

Meanwhile during the search of the SNP headquarters, officers were seen carrying green crates and other equipment.

At least six marked police vehicles had been parked outside Gordon Lamb House in Edinburgh and two vans were spotted leaving the city centre building.

In May and June 2017, Murrell purchased two Bremont World Timer Alt 1 watches in white and black for £4,555.25 and £4,795, respectively.

Both watches in black boxes with the faces wrapped in plastic were recovered from a cupboard in the SNP headquarters.

Numerous luxury fountain pens were found in the same location - some bought for four-figure amounts.

There are several pictures of Sturgeon using expensive Montblanc pens, which look similar to the ones that appear on Murrell's list of stolen items.

The most expensive pen Murrell bought - a Montblanc white gold fountain pen purchased for £4,225 - was found by officers during the search of Gordon Lamb House.

It was photographed in a large square black box on a wooden desk.

Other items found in the SNP headquarters included a £195 memo holder from Smythson, a tea set costing £2,396, and a selection of writing folders.

As part of Police Scotland's Operation Branchform Sturgeon was interviewed in June 2023 by detectives. However, she has always maintained her innocence, and was told last year that she was no longer under investigation by police.

On 31 May this year, the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg asked the former first minister whether she knew about the expensive watches, pens and coffee machines bought by her estranged husband.

Sturgeon said: "I never saw those watches until they were asked about in the context of a criminal investigation….. we were on salaries that would not have made me question how we could have afforded a decent coffee machine."

In that same TV interview she said of Peter Murrell: "Not only has he lied to me and betrayed me - and if this was an entirely private thing, that would be bad enough - but it's more than that.

"He has put me into a position of... of real peril. He has subjected me to public vilification, having the finger of suspicion pointed at me, you know, humiliation, allowed me to be seen on camera using things."