Police Scotland's chief constable has said the conviction of former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell proves the force is free from political interference. Jo Farrell made the remarks in her first full interview since taking over the national force three years ago, nearly six months after Murrell was convicted of embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.

Farrell said the case showed that nobody had impunity, including the husband of a first minister. "Regardless of who you are, where there's wrongdoing and criminality, we will investigate and work with the Crown in order to bring you to justice," she told The Times.

Murrell, the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh on 25 May 2026 to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022. He was jailed for five years and three months on 23 June. The court heard he had used party funds to buy a luxury motorhome, vehicles and other personal items, disguising the spending with false invoices and accounting entries.

The case emerged from Operation Branchform, the long-running Police Scotland investigation launched in 2021 after concerns were raised about the handling of more than £660,000 donated to the SNP to campaign for a second independence referendum. Farrell inherited the investigation from her predecessor, Iain Livingstone. Officers at one point arrested Sturgeon, though she was never charged with any crime and has insisted there was never any evidence against her.

Farrell's comments come as the force continues to face scrutiny over the cost and length of the Branchform inquiry, which ran for more than four years. The chief constable's defence of the investigation is a reminder that the case, one of the most politically sensitive in Scottish policing history, ended in a guilty plea and a prison sentence rather than a dropped inquiry.