Expert: Murrell may have been trying to heal psychological wound with purchases

Peter Murrell may have been trying to ‘heal’ a ‘psychological wound’ with his series of purchases using embezzled cash, an expert has suggested. (Jane Barlow/PA) -

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell will have rationalised his embezzlement of more than £400,000, acting on a possible internal pressure to have the “lavish lifestyle that he craved but could not afford” a criminologist suggested.

Dr Nicola Harding said Murrell’s case was a “textbook white collar crime” involving someone in a “position of respectability”.