'It is time to bring others up to speed with where we are,' the ex-First Minister said

Ex-Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she is ending her marriage to former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.

Writing on Instagram, Sturgeon said: "With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage.

"To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.

"It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will.

Murrell, who married Sturgeon in July 2010, was charged in connection with the embezzlement of SNP funds last year.

Sturgeon and former treasurer Colin Beatie were also arrested - but the pair were released without charge.

The now-separated duo remain under investigation as part of Police Scotland's Operation Branchform into allegedly missing party finances - approximately £600,000 raised by the party for independence campaigning.

In December, Sturgeon said she knows "nothing more" about the investigation than she did when she was arrested.

The couple's home in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, was searched by police and forensics officers as part of the probe.

Speaking after being released by police in June 2023, she insisted "beyond doubt" she was "innocent of any wrongdoing".

Sturgeon and Murrell first met in 1988, when she was 18 and he was 22.

The pair married seven years later at former church-turned-events venue Oran Mor in Glasgow.