Police investigating SNP fraud claims have seized a £110,000 luxury motorhome from the home of ex-CEO Peter Murrell’s mother.
Officers seized the state-of-the-art vehicle outside the home of 92-year-old Margaret Murrell on Wednesday morning – 50 miles from the Glasgow home where Mr Murrell lives with his wife Nicola Sturgeon.
Police arrived just minutes after Mr Murrell, 58, was dramatically arrested at his home during a long-running police investigation into £600,000 in ‘missing’ party funds.
Detectives raided the couple’s detached house and launched a search of the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.
Now the Mail on Sunday can reveal that another morning raid has taken place in connection with the SNP fraud investigation – on a sleepy private estate in Dunfermline, Fife.
Police investigating SNP fraud claims have seized a £110,000 luxury motorhome from the home of ex-CEO Peter Murrell’s mother
Police seized the high-end motorhome around 9 a.m. on Wednesday — which locals say was originally delivered to the address by two men in January 2021.
Last night, a neighbor described how two unmarked police cars, a silver SUV and a graphite-colored station wagon, pulled up in front of Margaret Murrell’s modest bungalow to remove the vehicle from her driveway.
A flagged police car was stationed a little further down the road as officers attempted to load the nearly five-ton Niesmann + Bischoff vehicle onto the back of a massive tow truck.
A local witness said: ‘It happened around 9am, about the same time they started raiding Peter’s house, I think. They did not enter the house, as Margaret is quite old now and they would not have wanted to disturb her.
‘At first they couldn’t get into the camper because it was locked and it had clamps on it, so they had to get keys from somewhere. They left but came back and managed to get it open. Then they loaded it onto the back of a huge truck and – after some effort to secure it – took it with them.’
The tight-knit community around Ms Murrell – whose husband, Peter’s father, Henry, passed away in 2019 – gathered last night to protect their neighbour.
Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly denied that a police investigation involving her husband and hundreds of thousands of pounds in allegedly ‘missing’ party funds contributed to her shock resignation in February.
One of them said: ‘It’s been there for two and a quarter years and it hasn’t been moved. It was brought here by two men. They came in early January 2021 about two and a half years ago, and it’s been there ever since. It never moved, as far as I know.’
Photos obtained by the Mail on Sunday show the streamlined vehicle is an “iSmove” made by the Niesmann + Bischoff brand, whose slogan is “Breaking all the rules.” A similar model of the van is likely to sell for around £110,000.
With an ‘extraordinarily open’ interior, floor plans of the luxury motorhomes show that they have fully functioning kitchens and shower rooms – despite being only about seven meters long.
Ms Sturgeon spoke to the media outside her home in Uddingston today following her husband’s arrest on Wednesday
Ms Sturgeon, pictured outside her home in Glasgow, said she fully intends to cooperate with the investigation into the SNP’s finances
Ms Sturgeon’s husband, Mr Murrell, was released from police custody without charge on Wednesday night
Electric shelves, a compressor fridge drawer, felt lined walls for coziness, mood lighting and a ‘disappearing’ shower are all included in the latest model of the futuristic camper.
A generous ‘trunk’ also fits two adult bicycles for those who want to go cycling on their very comfortable world tours.
‘Goodbye rules, hello freedom’, says the brochure.
Mr Murrell resigned as CEO of the Scottish National Party last month – just weeks after Ms Sturgeon, 52, stepped down as SNP leader and prime minister.
Scottish police were pictured at Mr Murrell’s home in Bailliestonon, Glasgow, on Thursday
Police pictured outside the home of Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell on Thursday, after the former SNP chief was arrested and subsequently released without charge
Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly denied that a police investigation involving her husband and hundreds of thousands of pounds in allegedly ‘missing’ party funds contributed to her shock resignation in February.
Speculation that she jumped before being pushed was dismissed by the former leader and her team, but was rife again after the dramatic arrest of her husband, Mr Murrell, on Wednesday. He was taken into custody when police arrived at the couple’s home at 7:35 am.
Ms. Sturgeon was seen leaving the premises shortly after 8am in a black Volvo, before a convoy of police vans arrived.
Photos obtained by the Mail on Sunday show the streamlined vehicle is an ‘iSmove’ made by the Niesmann + Bischoff brand with the slogan: ‘Breaking all the rules.’ A similar model of the van is likely to sell for around £110,000
After raiding the detached house and setting up a huge forensic tent in the front yard, detectives were seen in the backyard in the afternoon.
They also searched the SNP’s headquarters at Gordon Lamb House in Edinburgh, later removing large green boxes from the building and stacking them in vans.
Mr Murrell was released from police custody without charge on Wednesday evening.
But the police investigation, launched in May 2021 and dubbed ‘Operation Branchform’, continues and focuses on how money raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a ‘referendum call’ has been spent.
Concerns first arose when SNP accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, despite the £600,000 raised from donations to the referendum calls, leading to at least 19 criminal complaints.
After police launched their investigation, Ms Sturgeon’s wife of 13 years, Mr Murrell – who was the CEO of the SNP for 22 years – subsequently loaned the party £107,620, which he claimed was to help with ‘cash flow’ .
But serious questions were raised about the loan after the party only made it public 14 months later, in violation of the political finance law.
With an ‘extraordinarily open’ interior, floor plans of the luxury motorhomes show they have fully functioning kitchens and shower rooms – despite being only about seven meters long
Electoral Commission records show the SNP repaid £26,905 in August 2021, followed by £20,715 in October 2021, leaving £60,000 outstanding.
Ms Sturgeon has claimed that the money belonged to Mr Murrell and that he was entitled to donate to a party he supports.
Earlier this year she said: ‘Look, my husband is an individual and he will make decisions in line with that about what he does with resources that belong to him and I am standing here as Prime Minister and that is what I will do. answer for.’
When asked when she knew that Mr. Murrell had given the money to the party, Mrs. Sturgeon said, “I can’t remember exactly when I first knew, but what he does with his resources is his business.”
On Friday, the crisis facing the SNP appeared to deepen after it became known that accounting firm Johnston Carmichael – which has worked with the SNP for more than a decade – said it was cutting ties with the party. A spokesman for the SNP said it was in the process of finding a replacement company.
It is not known where the motor home taken from Mr Murrell’s mother’s house is, or how long it will be confiscated.
Scotland’s police said they could not comment further on the investigation.
