Today, the not-even-vaguely Scottish Daily Express, reminds us that Peter Murrell is in court tomorrow and that the cost of the police investigation is £2 million and counting, for a case of fraud which cost the taxpayer £0.
In August 2025, as Nicola Sturgeon spoke of the ordeal of being arrested and as MSM Monitor‘s question above waited to be answered, the trial of the SNP CE looks suspiciously likely to be set for the days just before the Holyrood election in May 2026 but then was postponed.
The Yorkshire Ripper investigation ran from August 1975 to January 1981, 5 years and six months, before Peter Sutciffe was charged with the murder of thirteen women. The excessive length of the investigation is attributed to the lack of a computerised system, DNA evidence or mobile phone evidence. Several tents were employed to cover the scenes of the bloody murders.
Yorkshire and national media were extremely critical of the police performance.
Operation Branchform, an investigation into possible fundraising fraud by the SNP began in July 2021 and is still open nearly 5 years later. One big blue tent was employed for no apparent reason. Computerised systems, DNA (from Nicola’s confiscated hairbrushes) and mobile phone records were available but seemed to have been little help.
Scottish media just love this.
A Netflix series – The Camper Van, the Hairbrush and the Waste of Public Funds – is planned for 2030.
Discover more from Talking-up Scotland
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Talking-up Scotland 
We have friends in Austria and Germany who because of our support for Scottish independence, take an interest in Scottish politics. They each held Nicola Sturgeon in high regard, and did so even prior to her exceptional handling of the covid pandemic which made international news. They each got in touch as the blue tent was erected outside her home as this damning image was headlined and beamed around the world. I had to explain to them exactly what was going on: that a popular political leader who was closely aligned with increased support for Scottish self determination and as such was viewed as a threat to the U.K. establishment. They were astonished that this would be politically motivated. We have returned to this issue over the intervening years and as the Westminster government has discredited itself under the Tories and now Labour over Brexit and now Palestine, they are each more understanding of how corrupt the U.K. is. Maureen Pickering
LikeLiked by 1 person
The MSM and westminster must be bealin that the “Not Proven” verdict no
longer exists. That would have allowed them to do the usual raking of the coals at regular intervals, just like “once in a generation” or the old favourite “the 66 World Cup”. you can bet your bottom dollar that last one will be doing the rounds again just shortly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Angela Rayner used a campervan to campaign for Labour. Police made no arrests.
I’m curious about the evidence the police have accumulated over these 5 years. As a donor to SNP funds I want to know every detail.
I thought buying a campervan during Covid was a sensible way of overcoming restrictions on hospitality and travel. I thought parking it at Peter Murrel’s mother’s house was a sensible way of saving on garaging costs.
But I’m not a detective nor an accountant.
5 years and £2,000,000. Better be worth it otherwise Sean Clerkin will be annoyed and make another complaint.
Does anyone know who else complained?
LikeLike