Sturgeon's personal life and politics collide in BBC interview

Following the "worst week of her life" in which her estranged husband admitted embezzling £400,000 from the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon gave her first media interview to the BBC.

In this interview, politics and what is deeply personal to the former first minister collide in the most remarkable way.

It could hardly be otherwise because the embezzlement of SNP funds by Peter Murrell brought his ill-gotten gains into their marital home.

Worse than that, some of what he purchased with party funds were gifts for Sturgeon which she has been photographed with.

The most obvious example is a £400 pendant bought from a Shetland jeweller they visited together. She often wore it in public.

In one of the most emotional moments in the interview, Sturgeon describes her pain and bewilderment on discovering this had been bought with stolen cash.

Throughout the conversation, the former SNP leader and first minister insists she knew nothing of Murrell's crimes.

To explain how that is possible, she offers some insight into their marriage and their domestic arrangements which were far from typical given her job.

First of all, she points out that as first minister she was busy, working long hours and away a lot.

Sturgeon reveals that she was not involved in running their household, that she gave Murrell money to pay her share of the bills and that they had separate bank accounts.

All of that would appear to put some distance between her and what he was buying.

She said there was nothing in their household that she thought was beyond their means as a couple earning high salaries.

She also applied that to the expensive Jaguar car he bought that sat in their driveway, adding that she had no interest in cars.

A different answer deals with some of the other expensive items Murrell has admitted buying with SNP cash.

When it comes to high-value watches for example, Sturgeon simply said that she had never seen them and only found out about them when he offered his guilty plea in court.

Her answers on the most expensive item, the now infamous motorhome, are different again.

It was parked in a driveway at the home of Peter Murrell's mother in Dunfermline.

Sturgeon accepts that she would have visited the property while it was there but has no "conscious memory" of having seen it.

Her explanation is partly about how they approached the house and where they parked not revealing the vehicle.

The other part is that if she did see it, she would not necessarily have thought it belonged to her in-laws, let alone that it had been paid for with SNP funds.

On the more political side, Sturgeon does not accept failing in her responsibilities as party leader to properly oversee how the SNP was being run.

She said there was nothing glaringly suspicious in the party's accounts and that it was for the treasurer, Colin Beattie, to point out anything that required particular attention.

When a new treasurer and other elected officials did raise financial concerns they have said they could not get access to the level of detail they needed to satisfy themselves there was nothing wrong.

On this, Sturgeon draws a distinction between what those concerns were about and the embezzlement Murrell has admitted.

She points out that people were worried that money raised for independence campaigning did not appear to be sitting in the SNP's bank account.

That's true. But is it not possible that if their concerns on that issue had been taken more seriously, detailed investigation might have exposed wrongdoing?

After all it is only when the police were called in to investigate the "missing" independence cash that they discovered Murrell's fingers were in the till.

Yes, he had worked hard to cover up his crimes but they were discoverable upon close examination.

Sturgeon accepts that with hindsight she should not have let Murrell continue as SNP chief executive when she became party leader and first minister - although he had started stealing several years earlier.

She has also said that she is open - subject to legal advice - to publishing the detailed statement she gave to police, as a way of countering claims of non-co-operation because she did not answer questions in a formal interview.

Throughout her conversation with Laura Kuennsberg, Sturgeon is determined not to take blame for the crimes of the man she married and is now separated from.

While she said she was "deeply sorry" this has happened she does not apologise to those who donated to the party of which she was leader or to those in the SNP who raised financial concerns.

Her personal hurt and anger over this huge political scandal are clear.

Sturgeon said she was still waiting for Murrell to offer an explanation for his crimes - crimes that she said have led to her being unfairly vilified, humiliated and placed under suspicion.