NICOLA STURGEON spoke of the “trauma” of her estranged husband’s admission to looting over £400,000 from the SNP in an interview today, leaving the public with “more questions than answers,” according to Scottish Labour.

In her first major interview since Peter Murrell pled guilty to lavishing hundreds of thousands of pounds of SNP funds on items ranging from luxury pens and toilets seats, to watches, £3,000 coffee machines, a Jaguar car, and a £125,000 mobile home, the former SNP leader told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg of her struggle.

“Am I angry at him? Yes, I’m angry, but I’m also carrying a degree of hurt and I think a degree of trauma about — this whole episode resulted in my sitting in a police station under arrest,” she said.

“I absolutely didn’t know that he was committing crimes.”

Amid rampant speculation about what she may or may not have known, and growing calls for an inquiry into the affair, Ms Strugeon insisted: “I will take responsibility for the things I do, the decisions I make. 

“But I am not responsible for the crimes that my former husband committed and I’m not going to apologise for somebody else’s crimes.”

She added: “He is serving and will be serving a sentence for a crime he committed. I’m out here feeling as if I’m serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit.”

Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Dame Jackie Baillie commented: ”This interview leaves the public with more questions than answers. 

“This isn’t a story of domestic deception that can be brushed under the carpet.

“For years Nicola Sturgeon cultivated an image of being a leader who missed nothing and was across every detail. 

“Now she asks the public to believe she had neither knowledge of nor curiosity about how these luxury purchases were being funded.

“While Nicola Sturgeon feels sorry for herself, my sympathy lies with the people of Scotland and SNP members.

“They placed their trust in the SNP leadership and have every right to feel let down by a party that has become synonymous with secrecy, evasion and unanswered questions.

“This scandal will not disappear through carefully managed interviews. 

“Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney and the SNP must finally come clean to a parliamentary inquiry that can get the answers Scotland deserves.”