Murrell: I didn’t express myself well in messages
NICOLA Sturgeon’s husband has officially confirmed he sent text messages which called on the police to be pressurised in the Alex Salmond case.
SNP chief executive Peter Murrell admitted he had not expressed himself “well”.
SNP MP Kenny MacAskill said last month that he had received an anonymous document that showed two messages sent by Murrell a day after Salmond was charged with sexual offences in January 2019.
It was also the month in which a separate complaint was made about Salmond to the Metropolitan Police, a probe the London force later dropped.
In a letter to the Holyrood committee, Murrell has confirmed the messages are genuine. But he claimed they had been “presented in a way that suggests a meaning that they do not in reality have”.
He wrote: “The messages were sent the day after Mr Salmond had been charged with a number of serious offences. In the aftermath of this, the SNP was contacted by individuals who had specific, personal questions in relation to that criminal case.
“My intention was to advise that their questions should be addressed to the police and not the SNP. I acknowledge that I did not express myself well but I suggest that in the context of such a criminal case, directing people to the police was the only responsible thing to advise.”
Murrell’s second message stated: “TBH the more fronts he is having to firefight on the better for all complainers, so CPS action would be a good thing.”
Murrell wrote: “This has been presented as following on immediately from the first. That is inaccurate. However, my intended meaning was that any and all complaints should be appropriately investigated.
“As most people will appreciate, the immediacy of text messages lend themselves to informal, shorthand forms of expression but, even so, I would wish on reflection to have expressed myself more appropriately.”
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has urged Sturgeon to fire Murrell.