A defiant Nicola Sturgeon has told of her ‘shock’ and ‘deep distress’ tonight, after she was arrested and held for seven hours in a police probe involving SNP finances, insisting in an emotional statement she is innocent.
The former first minister was detained this morning and held in custody while she was quizzed by detectives. Police Scotland confirmed she was released under investigation at 5.24pm this afternoon, after being arrested at 10.09am this morning.
The 52-year-old stood down as both SNP leader and first minister in March this year, since when there have been several dramatic developments in the probe into her party’s spending.
In a shock statement tonight on Twitter this evening, Ms Sturgeon, who said she would be back in Parliament soon, said: ‘I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.’
‘To find myself in the situation I did today when I am certain I have committed no offence is both a shock and deeply distressing’, she added.
The whereabouts of the first minister remain unclear, however, members of the press have gathered outside her Glasgow home.
It comes after the arrest of her husband, Peter Murrell – the SNP’s former chief executive – in April, just prior to a two-day police search of the couple’s Glasgow home.
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