Peter Murrell sentencing, what are we thinking…..?

[Dontwearmysocks]

What do we think he’s going to get, will there be much information put forward as mitigation 🧐

Still not buying the SNP as victim narrative, SNP poor governance the cause, more like.

Honestly, I’d let him walk if he could tell us why and whether Nicola knew.

Also, think we should raffle off all the salt and pepper shakers.

Based on other recent similar crimes I think he’ll get somewhere between 2 and 10 years.

he will also be ordered to pay the money back.

@AgnesMcDoo I think you are right - esp the low end, and I don’t think we’ll get much explanation as to the why….

I've said 4 years and I'm sticking with it. I think they'll put forward mental health as mitigation and cite examples of really random stuff he bought and the fact he didn't actually need it as evidence of some kind of compulsive disorder. I think he'll also have to pay it back out of his pension and they will plead that the public humiliation and his planned comfortable retirement being destroyed are punishment enough. I still think he'll get 4 years.

Given he still seems to be protecting Sturgeon, I don’t think he’ll go full on with the ‘miserable marriage to a controlling shite-arse caused my mental illness of kleptomania’ mitigation.

But I don’t know if he’ll just stick with a few apologies to others, and keep his powder dry for a later book deal; or he’ll tie himself up with references to depression and general malaise, stress of the job and the first referendum, pressures on his marriage and the pregnancy loss way back when (yes, I think he could well go there), how they both really tried so hard to make it work but he found solace in ordering shite off the internet as a way of coping, like a release valve for all the pressures of running a country, and then Covid happened and Boris Johnson made his wife sad and he found himself in a deep hole he couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth about ever.

I think, given the massive betrayal of trust he has admitted to and the arrogance he has demonstrated toward his ‘employer’ and to so many others, the large amounts involved, and his willingness to continue his deception for so long, he’ll have to get 6 years.

Agree @TheAutumnCrow I think he'll play the victim and do everything to avoid responsibility without saying anything negative about Sturgeon. I'm sure there must be some kind of agreement on that. For what it's worth, I do think there must have been an element of mental health or personality disorder as a cause as his behaviour was simply so irrational to the point of being impossible for most people to understand or relate to. I don't think that makes it ok; he should have sought help or stepped away from his role, or both!

Absolutely, there is more to it than he just wanted some things and popped them on expenses.

He bought a salt and pepper grinder nearly every year. That is very much a one time purchase. There is a strange pattern to it all that is compulsive in some way.

Sentence is five years three months. Apparently a full repayment is expected.

I’m actually pleasantly surprised the sentence-I had thought it would be more like 3 years

The judge stressed that he felt there needed to be a deterrent effect and that was one reason for a longer sentence. He got a discount for pleading guilty.

Surprised they didn't try for more in mitigation. He obviously has some limits in terms of humiliating himself to his own advantage.

Probably a book deal when he gets out!

On the 15th June mumsnet thread on this topic I said four years and a compensation order (not for the full amount). So I think that was a good guess, only a year out. And while the judge was going to make a compensation order, Murrell's counsel stated that there is enough money to repay the full amount and that Murrell wishes to start repaying that now. So my estimation was fairly close to the outcome. I think it's mad that his counsel was trying to garner sympathy by saying: "He's a figure of public ridicule" - well don't embezzle money to pay for £110 pencil sharpeners then! Play stupid games and all that...

Yep. And he can hold over Sturgeon what he may or may not say in that book. It's a good tactic. Given there wasn't much mitigation to speak of today, a book can't contradict it. This will make the content of his future book more credible, won't retro-stymie his prior defence and parole application / licence conditions, and give rise to a fevered anticipation by the public for the book's possibly revealing content.

Writing a book also gives him something to do in the Big House.

Utterly bizarre that there was such a fulsome admission of regret but not a word about his motivation for committing the crime.

Should be come Scotland’s consumer expert.

But seriously…she totally knows what this was all about.

Too true, what could he call his memoir?

From Holyrood to HMP
Dunstealin' in Dumfries

He doesn't strike me as the type to write a tell-all book, but I might be wrong. Guess he'll need to make money somehow!

He may not know himself.

Unlikely. If he writes a book about a crimes he has been convicted of the government will seize the proceeds.

Is that the case? I didn't know that.

Proceeds of Crime Act. Post conviction you are not allowed to benefit financially from a crime.

His pension is totally fucked then, eh? I still feel for his Mum though.

Oh she totally does-hence why he pled guilty and she’s fecked off out of Scotland-you know, that country she cares so deeply about

I thought the sentence was low considering the amount of money involved and the fact he will probably be eligible for parole at the half way mark.