Nicola Sturgeon opens up on police raid in first major interview since SNP cash probe led cops to her door

NICOLA Sturgeon has revealed she ran to her ‘mom and dad’ after police searched their home – and said of the SNP police investigation: ‘I want it to be over as soon as possible.’

The former first minister insisted she only learned her husband was to be arrested when officers knocked on her door in April.

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And when she pleaded innocent following her own arrest, Ms Sturgeon said she was doing so and had to “trust the process and the police”.

The 53-year-old made her biggest public appearance since being questioned by police in June, appearing on broadcaster Iain Dale’s All Talk Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Just weeks after Ms Sturgeon resigned from her top post, her husband and former SNP chief Peter Murrell was arrested by police.

Her home in Uddingston was raided and searched by officers while a huge tent was set up outside her front door.

Asked what was going through her mind as Mr Murrell was at the police station being questioned under caution, Ms Sturgeon said: “Oh I have no idea, I was with my mum and dad. Always go back to Mom and Dad when the going gets tough…

“I can’t even remember what was going through my head at the time. It wasn’t the best day of my life, to put it that way.”

While Ms Sturgeon said she didn’t think it was “inevitable” at this point that she too would be arrested by police, she said she “feels more likely than unlikely”.

On June 11, Ms Sturgeon was arrested – before being released without charge – and named a “suspect” in the police investigation into SNP finances.

Ms Sturgeon explained that the police raid – including the tent set up in front of her home – was “totally excessive” and that even her “bitterest enemies could see that it did not justify an action of this scale or nature,” Ms Sturgeon said had “faith” in everything the police did.

She said: “My touchstone in all of this is always that I’m confident in my own position and I’m absolutely certain that I haven’t done anything wrong.” That’s why I have to trust the process and the police are doing their job and that’s why I have to trust that everything they do in the process is justified, and I will continue to believe that. “As I said, the touchstone is confidence in my own position.”

Ms Sturgeon said: “Look, and that’s all I’ll say, it’s obviously been a really difficult, traumatic experience. People experience worse things, I won’t overestimate that.”

Police launched an investigation into the Nats in July 2021 after a spate of complaints about how around £600,000 in pro-independence campaign funds raised between 2017 and 2019 were being spent.

Ms Sturgeon said of the investigation, which has not yet resulted in any charges: “Obviously I want it to be completed as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, the Scottish Sun revealed Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell were forced to admit the car they were spotted in was untaxed after they failed to extend the tax until August 1 at the latest – which constituted a criminal offense under the law.

Since it was an electric car, it is not subject to tax and the tax has since been renewed.

Asked how the police investigation had impacted her marriage, Ms Sturgeon said she chose to “talk about happier things” with Mr Murrell, whom she married in 2010, saying: “My marriage isn’t anything about anyone should be worried.”

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