Police officers were seen holding spades and other garden equipment as they searched Nicola Sturgeon‘s back garden today after arresting her husband as part of a investigation into more than half a million pounds’ worth of missing donations given to the SNP to fund its independence drive.
Police officers, including forensics experts have spent the day going through the family home in Glasgow and the nationalist party’s Edinburgh headquarters after arresting Peter Murrell.
Murrell, the former party chief executive, as held by detectives investigating what happened to more than half a million pounds donated to the SNP to pay for a second independence referendum campaign that never materialised.
Officers with spades were this afternoon spotted digging in the garden of the modest family home the couple share.
The extraordinary scenes that have left Scottish politics in a state of turmoil come just a week after Ms Sturgeon handed over power to Humza Yousaf.
This morning he was forced this morning to defend her surprise departure as SNP leader and First Minister, insisting it was noting to do with the police investigation.
But political opponents demanded answers. Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘We need Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon to urgently state what they knew and when.’
Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Donald Cameron added: ‘Senior SNP politicians, including Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, must cooperate fully with the investigation into this very serious case and commit to openness and transparency.
