On Monday, Peter Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the Scottish National Pary (SNP) while the party's chief executive.

The 61-year-old used the funds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle, which included luxury goods such as a £4,225 fountain pen, salt and pepper grinders costing £2,618, a £3,231 coffee machine, and a £124,550 state-of-the-art motorhome.

Speaking at Listowel Writers' Week in County Kerry, Ireland, the former first minister said: "This has been probably the worst week of my life, and you know the last few years have had some tough ones for me, but this one, I think, surpasses all of them.

"You're coming to terms with the fact that you spent many years - I spent many years - married to somebody that, as it turns out, I obviously didn't know at all.

"It's a really painful truth to process, and I think I'm only in the very early stages of processing it.

"And then, to be in a position of such public turmoil myself, makes that even harder."

Ms Sturgeon, who married Murrell in 2010 before announcing their separation last year, was arrested as part of Police Scotland's Operation Branchform - a probe into the SNP's funding and finances.

She was later told by the force she would face no further action following direction from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Read more:
Operation Branchform: The downfall of Peter Murrell
Sturgeon defends 'no comment' stance in interview

Ms Sturgeon has continually denied any wrongdoing, and said that she was "completely exonerated" and "totally cleared" after a "very forensic" police investigation.

However, while speaking at the event about her memoir Frankly, Ms Sturgeon said: "That doesn't stop, this week, many people pointing the finger of suspicion at me all over again, and trying to hold me responsible for somebody else's crimes and having to go through that in a very, very public way.

"So, it's really hard, and I think it will take me some time to properly come to terms with all of that."

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Ms Sturgeon gave a "no comment" interview to detectives following her arrest.

She said that this was on the advice of her lawyer, and she "fully co-operated with the police" by later submitting a "detailed written response" to the questions put to her.

The ex-MSP said she understood that people would be asking "how could she not have known?"

She added: "And, I think, underlying that question, there is a big misassumption, which is that I knew anything about it, or that I knew all about it.

"You know, I think, everybody assumes that all of this stuff that it turns out now my former husband was buying, I knew about it, and I just didn't question who paid for it.

"As recently as Monday, I was reading about things in the newspapers for the first time that I've never seen, I didn't know about it.

"It wasn't just that I didn't question where it came from - I've never seen it."

Ms Sturgeon said she did not question how Murrell was able to purchase some of the items as they were both on "high salaries" with no children.

She added: "I was doing a job - and this is another factor - I was doing a job that had me working around the clock, away from home a lot of the time.

"Maybe this doesn't reflect well on me. I didn't spend a lot of time in my kitchen - spend any time in my kitchen - but I would never question that some of these things he was buying that I was aware of he couldn't have afforded, because, on the basis of our incomes, he could have afforded it."

Ms Sturgeon said she was coming to terms with the fact that she had been "deceived".

The former SNP leader added: "I've been misled, I've been lied to, and I've been betrayed - and I will not be the first... and I won't be the last woman that's being betrayed by her husband."

Ms Sturgeon joked to the audience: "I probably need to sit with a therapist - it's a long-winded way of saying I'm not okay, I will be okay.

"I'm a strong, resilient person."

Murrell was remanded in custody, and will be sentenced next month.

Two further deaths were confirmed on Thursday.

Thames Valley Police said that a 14-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty in the River Thames at Donnington Bridge on Wednesday.

Around the same time, the body of another teenage boy was recovered from a pond in Swanscombe, Kent.

The deaths follow a number of water-related fatalities over the past few days as the UK saw record-breaking temperatures for May.

One of them was 12-year-old Junior Slater, who died while swimming with friends in the River Ribble at Ribchester, Lancashire, on Tuesday.

Explainer: What is cold water shock?

The first reported incident involved Declan Sawyer, 15, whose body was recovered after he got into difficulty after entering Swanholme Lakes in Lincoln on Sunday.

On Monday, a 13-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam in West Yorkshire, while the body of a teenage girl was recovered on the same day at Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire.

The following day, the body of a teenager had been recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A body was also found by rescuers looking for a teenage boy who was last seen swimming at Hawley Lake on the Hampshire-Surrey border on Tuesday afternoon.

Then on Wednesday, Cheshire Police said the body of a 17-year-old boy was found after he went missing in Pickmere Lake in Northwich.

On Sunday, a 72-year-old woman died after being pulled from the water at West Angle Bay beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Read more from Sky News:
Students 'misled' over uni loans
Fertility rate falls to record low

The following day, a man in his 60s died of cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach in Padstow, Cornwall, to help two family members who were in difficulty, police said.

In Ireland, another teenager died while swimming in the sea at a beach in County Dublin on Sunday.

The RNLI warned of the "very real risk" of swimming in open water during the heatwave, with Steve Instance, the water safety lead for the charity, insisting it remains "very much winter temperatures" in UK waters.

About 8,000 customers in the Whitstable area were affected because nearby reservoirs were at a "critical level" due to "extremely high demand", said South East Water.

It said taps should start to run again later on Friday but supplies could be patchy over the weekend.

Its incident manager Steve Benton said: "Currently there are 8,000 customers without supply in the Whitstable area because the storage reservoirs which serve the area have reached a critical level. Parts of Whitstable will see supplies returning this evening, and this will continue through to tomorrow morning. Tap water is likely to remain intermittent across the weekend."

South East Water said another 7,000 households in Tankerton, Ashford and surrounding areas were also getting low pressure or an intermittent supply - with a further 7,000 at risk of some supply loss on Thursday.

The firm has asked people to stop using jet washers, hosepipes, paddling pools and sprinklers.

Matthew Dean, its head of operations control, said: "We are continuing to ask customers in supply to use water for essential purposes only - for drinking, washing and cooking.

"We have bottled water collection stations already set up and are monitoring."

Tankers have also been adding water into the network in areas that are struggling.

The problems have grown significantly since Monday when South East Water said about 250 properties were affected.

The firm said it planned for the hot weather but demand was still outstripping the speed at which it could treat and pump water to customers' homes.

It said 670 million litres had been used across its area on Bank Holiday Monday, 100 million litres more than average.

Read more from Sky News:
Former BP boss hits back at oil giant after his ousting
Scottish village evacuates homes over ground movement

South East Water boss Dave Hinton quit earlier this month, just a week after its chairman, following demands by MPs for a change of leadership.

Mr Hinton, who had been chief executive since 2020, had previously said he would take no bonus in 2026 following an outage late last year that left tens of thousands without water for two weeks in the Tunbridge Wells area.

A report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said the company was "devoid of proper leadership" and "riddled with cultural problems".

Vickrum Digwa was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Henry Nowak by stabbing him to death with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife with an eight-inch (21cm) blade.

The 23-year-old told police he was the victim of a racist attack after he knifed the finance student five times in Southampton on 3 December 2025.

He also did not tell officers he had stabbed the first-year student with the Sikh kirpan, as officers arrested and handcuffed Mr Nowak.

The victim then fell unconscious and died from his injuries at the scene as officers tried to administer first aid.

Now the trial is over the case has been referred to the police watchdog - the Independent Office for Police Conduct - to investigate the officers' actions.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France, of Hampshire Constabulary, apologised on behalf of the officers for being unaware of Mr Nowak's injuries.

He said: "I want to say that I am sorry that Henry couldn't be saved that night. I'm sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness."

Digwa was also convicted of carrying a bladed weapon in public, and his mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender by removing the weapon from the scene.

See more from Sky News:
Thousands without tap water
Iran made 'ceasefire violation'

The 23-year-old is set to be sentenced on Monday, while Kaur is to be sentenced on 17 July.

Under Sikh practice, a kirpan is carried in a sheath and must be worn in a holster. Unsheathing it for aggressive reasons violates the Sikh code of conduct.

It's legal to possess a kirpan for religious reasons in the UK, but restrictions apply. However, a blade less than 19in (50cm) is not covered by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.

In the lead up to the attack, Digwa was filmed by his victim telling him "I am a bad man" moments before the knife attack, which saw Mr Nowak - from Chafford Hundred, Essex - suffer a fatal stab wound to his heart.

Nicholas Lobbenberg KC, prosecuting, told the court that on the night of the murder, Digwa was wearing "an extremely large knife in a sheath openly displayed over his clothing" - a 8in (21cm) shastar, the Punjabi word for weapon or knife - as well as a smaller kirpan around his neck and under clothing.

Digwa told the court that Mr Nowak, whom he described as drunk, had racially abused him before punching him and knocking his turban off.

The court heard a post-mortem examination found that Mr Nowak suffered four stab wounds and a cut to his jaw, with two of the wounds to the back of his legs.

Police apologise after Digwa 'lied to' officers

Mr Lobbenberg said Digwa told a "wicked lie" to police about being a victim of a racist attack and that he "lied" by saying he had not stabbed Mr Nowak.

Police initially handcuffed Mr Nowak, and only started giving him first aid when he then collapsed before dying, the prosecutor said.

Digwa told the court he stabbed Mr Nowak to the back of his legs in self-defence after Mr Nowak threatened him and grabbed him by the hair.

He said he had not realised at the time he caused the fatal stab wound to his chest.

Digwa also claimed he asked his mother, who along with his father arrived at the scene, to hold his kirpan while he picked up his religious items which had fallen to the ground during the struggle.

The prosecution said Kaur took the kirpan back to the nearby family home where it was later found.

'I am a bad man,' defendant said

Jurors were previously shown a video of the incident, which was found on Mr Nowak's phone that was discovered in Digwa's pocket.

In the video, played to jurors, Mr Nowak can be heard saying "Hello car" and singing to himself before yawning, with the footage then cutting to show Digwa walking away from him.

Mr Nowak is then heard saying: "Innit bad man, what bad man. You're a bad man, say you're a bad man, go on."

Digwa replied: "I am a bad man."

The prosecutor also told the court that Digwa is "a man who likes weapons," had described the murder weapon in "loving terms," and that he "sleeps in a bedroom with an arsenal of weapons".

Weapon not a normal kirpan: Sikh Federation

In a statement after the conviction, the Sikh Federation said: "Henry's life has tragically been cut short by a moment of madness by an individual for which there can be no excuses".

It added: "If a kirpan or a bladed item is used aggressively in an act of violence, the defence under the law for a kirpan does not apply and it is deemed an offensive weapon.

"We understand in this case the weapon that may have been used was not the normal kirpan worn by fully practising Sikhs.

"This nuance is critically important and may not have been explained or understood by those asked to give evidence in this case."

The woman told Newry Crown Court she had thought the letter was an attempt by the former MP, 63, "to apologise for perhaps the abuse which had occurred".

Under cross-examination by Sir Jeffrey's barrister, the woman later told the trial she had been sexually abused by another man when she was a child.

Sir Jeffrey is accused of rape and several counts of gross indecency and of indecent assault.

He has pleaded not guilty to the 18 alleged offences, which span a time period between 1985 and 2008 and involve two alleged victims.

Sir Jeffrey's wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband's alleged offending. She is facing a trial of the facts.

Prosecuting barrister Rosemary Walsh KC read out a letter which the first witness in the trial, known as Complainant A, said had been written to her by Sir Jeffrey in June 2020.

In it, he expressed "how much I truly regret all the hurt, pain and distress I have caused".

The letter added: "I wish I could find the right words to adequately express just how sorry I am for all of this… I take full responsibility for it all."

The jury heard Sir Jeffrey described himself in the letter as a "sinner" and said he had failed to address his "sinful nature for far too many years".

The letter continued: "I will regret this to my dying day." It added: "I understand how deep the wounds are caused by my sinful and selfish actions."

Ms Walsh asked Complainant A what she believed the letter was about and she replied: "I felt he was trying to apologise for perhaps the abuse which had occurred, but he didn't want to say that formally in writing.

"It felt like an apology letter and it felt like it was written with a lot of guilt."

Read more from Sky News:
Teenage boy 10th person to die in open water during hot weather
Thousands without tap water as reservoirs at 'critical level'

Police interview played to jury

The evidence began earlier on Thursday, with the video of a police interview with Complainant A from March 2024 - weeks before the Donaldsons were arrested - played to the jury.

In the interview the complainant said she had been of primary school age when Sir Jeffrey was "physical" with her.

She said that from a primary school age Sir Jeffrey had put his hand up her top and this "happened for quite a while".

Sir Jeffrey made comments about the size of her breasts as she got older, she added.

She said she remembered a "significant event" when she was a young teenager when Sir Jeffrey "perched" over the top of her, holding a light and had looked at her "private parts".

"I couldn't move initially because I didn't know what had happened," she said.

On another occasion Sir Jeffrey kissed her and put his tongue in her mouth, she said, adding that this and similar incidents were "very much laughed off as a joke".

Complainant A said when she was in her 20s, she understood the behaviour she claimed had taken place was "not normal", adding: "I became very angry."

'It is insulting'

Sir Jeffrey's barrister Kieran Vaughan KC asked Complainant A why she had not told police about another incident when she was sexually abused by another man when she was of primary school age.

She said she saw it as the "lesser of two evils".

Mr Vaughan pointed out in her police interview Complainant A had said events were "very unclear", but she said she had "great clarity" about some events, while others were "foggy".

The barrister suggested she may either have "fabricated" the abuse or else "dreamt it and over the years come to believe it is true".

She said: "To imply someone would dream things without a reason is ridiculous, it is insulting."

The trial continues on Friday. It is expected to last between three and four weeks.

Lady Donaldson is facing a trial of the facts, which is not a criminal trial and cannot result in a criminal conviction, after Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds.

Sir Jeffrey, formerly a long-standing MP for Lagan Valley, was charged in March 2024.

He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party after the allegations emerged.