When Peter Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling £400k, this former SNP chief executive sighed with relief.

As the man who succeeded Murrell, I was a potential witness had the case gone to trial.

Murrell’s crimes obviously pre-dated my appointment but testifying was still a prospect I preferred to avoid.

So, I was relieved his lawyers persuaded him of an old legal saying: Never defend the indefensible.

And his actions were indefensible. The court will take his guilty plea into account when sentencing but it’s a certainty he will be spending extended time as a guest of His Majesty.

His plea will also come as a relief to his estranged wife and others spared the ordeal of testifying against the man who was once their friend.

Unanswered questions on Peter Murrell case

But we still have many unanswered questions, and two in particular puzzle me.

The first: What on earth possessed him to so catastrophically undermine every cornerstone of his life?

Murrell never gave colleagues cause to believe he was anything other than dedicated to the SNP, the cause of independence and his first minister wife.

Indeed, I think he believed his primary function was the promotion and protection of his wife.

And because Nicola was widely regarded as the party’s star asset, by protecting her he was, by extension, promoting the party.

Now the world has learned he was simultaneously betraying all three loves of his life: party, cause and wife.

The fallout has ended his marriage and damaged the SNP while the full effect on the cause of independence is yet to be established.

The SNP rightly prides itself on being powered by its members. There is no crypto-billionaire lurking in the........

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