Crown Office asked to investigate whether SNP chief executive 'perjured himself'

The Crown Office has been asked to investigate whether the SNP chief executive "perjured himself" during his appearance before the Scottish Parliament committee investigating the handling of complaints against Alex Salmond.

Scottish Labour has called for prosecutors to examine evidence given by Peter Murrell, the husband of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, which interim leader Jackie Baillie claims "is clearly at odds with the facts" presented to the Holyrood inquiry.

The concerns centre on Murrell's denial of the existence of text and WhatsApp messages regarding the allegations against the former first minister.

In response to questioning from Baillie at the committee, Murrell said there were no other text or WhatsApp messages on the matter.

However, Baillie said it has since come to the committee's attention that other messages are being held by the Crown Office.

In the letter to the Crown Office, Baillie said: "During my exchange with Peter Murrell, which I reproduce from the Official Record of the meeting in full below, I asked him about the existence of other text and Whatsapp messages, beyond the two messages from him in the public domain.

"He denied that there was anything else, other than the two text messages under discussion by the committee. It would seem to be the case that, from information recently placed in the public domain, there were other text and WhatsApp messages.

"Indeed, the committee has written to you using its Section 23 powers, set out in the Scotland Act, to request sight of those messages, so they evidently exist."

Baillie said because evidence was taken under oath, this was "a very serious matter", adding: "I understand from parliamentary lawyers that committing perjury is considered to be a criminal offence."

The letter continued: "As the Crown Office have all the text and WhatsApp messages secured during the evidence gathering phase of the criminal trial against Alex Salmond, you will be in a position to know whether any more exist than the two already in the public domain.

"If that is the case, and particularly if there are more in which Mr Murrell is involved, I am concerned that his evidence to the committee was not accurate.

"I would therefore be very grateful if you would confirm that you will undertake an urgent investigation into whether Peter Murrell has committed perjury."

The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints is tasked with investigating what went wrong with the Scottish Government's investigation into complaints against Salmond.

The taxpayer was forced to pick up Salmond's £500,000 legal bill after the Court of Session ruled the government's investigation had been "unlawful".

The SNP has been contacted for comment.