Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has spoken publicly for the first time since former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed after admitting to embezzling £400,000 from the party.
Speaking at a literary festival in Ireland, Sturgeon said: “This has been probably the worst week of my life” and described coming to terms with being married to somebody she “obviously didn’t know at all”.
She insisted she had no knowledge of Murrell’s actions, telling the audience she had been “deceived, misled, lied to, and betrayed”.
Sturgeon also suggested some criticism of her had been driven by sexism, saying: “We still live in a society where when a man does something wrong, there are some people who will, the first thing they will do is look for the woman to blame.”
Opposition politicians - including many female parliamentarians - continue to question what Sturgeon knew about SNP finances during Murrell’s tenure.