Unprecedented Release of Crown Office Updates
The Crown Office has published 30 previously confidential updates sent to Scotland's first ministers over the past 30 years, marking an unprecedented disclosure. These documents cover a wide range of cases, from the Lockerbie bombing investigation to a man jailed for wandering naked in the countryside.
Among these, the most politically sensitive were memos sent to John Swinney regarding the prosecution of Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon.
Details on Peter Murrell's Charges
On 20 March last year, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain informed Swinney that Murrell had appeared in court charged with embezzling "over £460,000" from the SNP, well before this information was public. A subsequent memo dated 19 January this year specified the amount as £459,046.49, coinciding with the day the indictment was served and weeks before the charges were reported by the Scottish Sun.
Last week, the Crown Office explained that the sum was included in the 19 January memo because "Once an indictment has been served on an accused it stands to become public at any time."
However, questions remain as to why the first minister was briefed on the financial scale of allegations against Murrell 10 months prior to the indictment being served.
In a letter to the Scottish Parliament's presiding officer, the lord advocate stated that the practice of providing updates to Scottish and UK governments predates devolution in 1999. She noted:
"On many occasions, this will involve prosecutors properly sharing information with the government which is not in the public domain at the time it is shared or will not be made public."
She further explained that much of this information is shared to remind ministers to exercise caution in public statements to avoid prejudicing legal proceedings or risking contempt of court.
Crown Office officials advised her twice that it was appropriate to provide "limited factual information" on Murrell's case. The value of the alleged financial offence was included to confirm facts amid substantial media speculation during the police investigation.
The 20 March 2025 memo also indicated that significant information about investigations into two other individuals would be made public that day. This referred to police announcements that Nicola Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, both arrested and questioned but released without charge, were no longer under investigation by Operation Branchform, the inquiry into the party's finances.
The lord advocate also informed Swinney:
"Nicola Sturgeon MSP and Colin Beattie MSP were not reported to the procurator fiscal for prosecution. Crown counsel (senior Crown Office lawyers) have considered the police request for advice in relation to them and consider the police were right not to report them for prosecution. The police will now communicate that information to them."
Other Case Updates
The released updates provide insight into the Crown Office's broad scope of work and its assessment of what the government should be informed about.
Aside from Operation Branchform, recent updates included prosecutions linked to the proscribed group Palestine Action and the discovery of a deadly synthetic opioid during a drugs lab raid.
Other cases involved the arrest of a Ukrainian war refugee accused of making threats against Donald Trump and court appearances of eight individuals charged with vandalising the US president's golf resort at Turnberry, South Ayrshire.
In 2022, Nicola Sturgeon was updated on the investigation into the deaths of William Lindsay and Katie Allan at HMP Polmont, with Crown lawyers believing there had been a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Two years earlier, she received a detailed briefing after police shot dead a Sudanese asylum seeker who attacked people at a hotel in Glasgow.
The Crown Office also provided updates on the Lockerbie bombing investigation, the Royal Bank of Scotland collapse inquiry, and a case involving a young woman who left Glasgow to join ISIS in Syria.
Other updates included the post mortem results of 88-year-old Janet McKay, found dead eight days after going missing; the death of Sheku Bayoh in police custody; and the decision not to prosecute the driver of a bin lorry involved in a 2014 Glasgow crash that killed six people.
In 2014, then First Minister Alex Salmond was copied into letters from Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland KC to Prime Minister David Cameron, warning that public comments on the conviction of ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson might prejudice criminal proceedings in Scotland.
Salmond was also informed about inquiries into historic sex abuse allegations at Fort Augustus Abbey, the murder of a Thai woman at the SECC in Glasgow, and the arrest of a man due to "his unwillingness to wear clothes in public whilst in Scotland."
The oldest memo released dates from 2004, when Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell was notified of insufficient evidence to prosecute over haemophiliacs' treatment.
Political Implications and Future of the Lord Advocate
The release of the 20 March memo on Murrell's case has intensified political scrutiny on Dorothy Bain, who has served as head of the prosecution service and chief legal advisor to the Scottish government since 2021.
While all updates concerned cases of major public interest, only two involved alleged crimes connected to the governing party, contributing to the pressure on Bain.
It is notable that recent lord advocates typically step down after five years, and prior to this controversy, it was widely anticipated that Bain would leave her role following the Scottish parliamentary elections in May.
