Items worth around £60,000, (many of which were purchases appropriate to a female, panties, clothing, perfumes, etc. and household items) were removed from Murrell’s charge sheet, at his request, through negotiation reducing it from £460,000 to £400,000.
The CPS approved the unusual course of action after Murrell undertook to refund the £60,000, but steps to recover the items purchased were not pursued.
There are some who believe that Sturgeon herself purchased many of the items and passed the receipts to Murrell for processing through the SNP accounts, but the police, after many hours of frustrating, non cooperative, “no comment” reply’s from Sturgeon and in the absence of corroboration statements from Murrell that she did, admitted defeat and released her without charge.
In a public statement, shortly after her release, Sturgeon, insisted nothing belonging to her should form part of Murrell’s repayment commitment leaving her vulnerable to criticism that she would, by result be benefitting from the theft. The £60,000 has been expunged from the charges and cannot be referred to again.
Proceeds of Crime – Assets under restraint:
Court papers list Murrell’s motorhome, (he is still the registered owner) £613k in pensions, and his share of Uddingston home have been frozen to assist repayment of the £400k and the separate £60,000 embezzlement.
Not given mention by the police is Murrell amd Sturgeon’s sale of their Portuguese villa, which they frequently visited, for an undisclosed sum only months after securing legal aid for his embezzlement trial.
Critics raised questions about eligibility rules aruing that such assets should disqualify applicants but the Scottish Legal Aid Board said Murrell met all the qualifying criteria
caltonjock 