Peter Murrell was silent and impassive as police grilled him on his “outrageous” spending on pens and other items that he bought with more than £400,000 embezzled from the Scottish National Party. The former SNP chief executive was accused of “thieving” from SNP members as police interviewed him in April 2024. Murrell said nothing or answered “no comment” as detectives investigating the SNP’s finances put a series of accusations to him. Police told Murrell: “Over £19,000 is exclusively on pens alone. “It’s quite frankly an outrageous amount of money to be spending on pens, in my opinion... What does the SNP need over £19,000 of luxury pens for?” On Tuesday (23 June), Murrell was sentenced to more than five years in prison for embezzling more than £400,000 from the Scottish National Party. He had pleaded guilty in May to embezzling £400,310.65 between August 2010 and October 2022.