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The upcoming departure of Nicola Sturgeon as first minister and the resignation of her husband Peter Murrell as SNP chief executive marks the end of an era.

The couple have been at the helm of the party for almost a decade.

Ms Sturgeon, who became SNP leader and first minister in 2014, resigned last month.

The SNP leadership race has now led to the dramatic resignation of her husband, who had been the party’s chief executive since 1999.

Here, we chart the timeline of events that have led to the power couple stepping down from their reign.

27 October 2022: Community safety minister Ash Regan quits the Scottish government shortly before MSPs begin debating the first stage of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which would make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate. A total of seven SNP MSPs break the whip to vote against the controversial bill.

23 November 2022: The UK Supreme Court rules that the Scottish parliament does not have the power to legislate for indyref2 without Westminster approval. Ms Sturgeon vows to use the next general election as a “de facto referendum” on independence and announces that a special SNP conference will be held in the new year to discuss and agree plans.

December 2022: Polling at the end of the year shows a small majority – excluding don’t knows – in support of independence. Ms Sturgeon also remains the leader with the highest satisfaction rating across the UK, scoring 52%. In comparison, Rishi Sunak receives a negative net satisfaction rating among Scots, with 53% dissatisfied with the prime minister’s performance.

17 January 2023: The UK government uses section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from receiving royal assent.

22 January 2023: Following the resignation of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, Ms Sturgeon says she is “nowhere near” ready to quit as Scotland’s first minister and still has “plenty in the tank”.

Isla Bryson, 31, formerly known as Adam Graham, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, arrives at the High Court in Glasgow. Following a six-day trial at the High Court a jury has found the transgender woman guilty of raping two women when she was a man: one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019. Picture date: Monday January 23, 2023. See PA story COURTS Bryson. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
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Isla Bryson was jailed for eight years for raping two women

24 January 2023: Transgender woman Isla Bryson is found guilty of raping two women. The attacks occurred prior to Bryson’s transition from when they were known as Adam Graham. Within days, the argument surrounding the GRR bill explodes after it is discovered that Bryson is being housed within Scotland’s only all-female jail ahead of sentencing. Following a public outcry, Bryson is moved from Cornton Vale to the male estate.

12 February 2023: The Sunday Mail reports that up to 30,000 members have quit the SNP in response to the party’s gender reforms and the stalling of independence. The SNP claims the report is “both malicious and wholly inaccurate”, adding: “Fortunately, few people are gullible enough to believe it.”

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A lookback at Ms Sturgeon’s career

15 February 2023: Ms Sturgeon announces she will stand down as SNP leader and first minister. She says: “In my head and in my heart, I know that time is now.”

(left to right) Ash Regan, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf taking part in the SNP leadership hustings at Eden Court, Inverness. Picture date: Saturday March 4, 2023.
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Ash Regan, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf are in the running to replace Ms Sturgeon as first minister

24 February 2023: Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former community safety minister Ash Regan are confirmed as the three candidates in the running to replace Ms Sturgeon as first minister and SNP leader.

28 February 2023: Transgender double rapist Isla Bryson is jailed for eight years.

Read more:
Sturgeon ‘has not heard from police’ over probe into SNP finances

SNP has lost around 30,000 party members since 2021
Does hunger for independence remain in Scotland’s ‘Yes’ towns and cities?

In Full: Watch the SNP Leadership Debate

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12 March 2023: Concerns are once again raised over the exact size of the SNP membership after the Mail on Sunday reports only 78,000 online forms are being sent out for the leadership vote.

15 March 2023: Ms Regan, Ms Forbes and Mr Yousaf pile pressure on the SNP to be more transparent over the ballot process. Ms Regan and Ms Forbes join forces to write an open letter to SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who is also Ms Sturgeon’s husband. The trio call for the party to reveal the number of paid-up members, as well as the number of digital voting documents and postal voting papers issued.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney during his speech at the SNP conference at The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA) in Aberdeen , Scotland. Picture date: Sunday October 9, 2022.
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The SNP conference in Aberdeen last October

16 March 2023: Following pressure, the SNP finally reveal that just 72,186 members are eligible to vote in the party leadership contest – a drop of around 30,000 members since 2021.

17 March 2023: Liz Lloyd, Ms Sturgeon’s strategic adviser and long-time chief of staff, announces she will leave the Scottish government when the first minister does. Murray Foote, the SNP’s head of communications, also announces his resignation. Mr Foote, who initially described the Sunday Mail’s story as “drivel”, claims he acted in “good faith” when issuing agreed party responses to media enquiries regarding membership numbers.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon with husband Peter Murrell as they cast their votes in the 2019 General Election at Broomhouse Park Community Hall in Glasgow.
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Ms Sturgeon told Sky News it was ‘right’ that Mr Murrell stepped down

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Ms Sturgeon speaks to Sky News after her husband announced his resignation as SNP chief executive

18 March 2023: Peter Murrell resigns with immediate effect as the SNP’s chief executive. Reports suggest members of the SNP’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) threatened a vote of no confidence. Shouldering the blame for the party’s responses to the media over membership numbers, Mr Murrell accepts: “While there was no intent to mislead, I accept that this has been the outcome.” In response, Ms Sturgeon, tells Sky News that her husband intended to step down but “was right” to announce his immediate resignation.

Nicola Sturgeon and Beth Rigby
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Ms Sturgeon spoke with Sky News’ Beth Rigby on Monday

20 March 2023: Ms Sturgeon tells Sky News that she has not heard whether police want to interview her or her husband as part of a long-running probe into SNP finances. Police Scotland and the Crown Office are currently investigating how £600,000 raised by the SNP for independence campaigning has been spent. In a Beth Rigby interview due to air at 9pm on Sky News on Monday, Ms Sturgeon responded: “No. I wouldn’t comment on any ongoing police investigation and I am not going to comment on this one.”

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Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana

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Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana

Police are investigating an alleged attack on a prison officer by Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana on Thursday, Sky News understands.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh yesterday.

“Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff.”

Rudakubana is serving life in jail for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year.

According to The Sun, Rudakubana poured boiling water over the prison officer, who was taken to hospital as a precaution but only suffered minor injuries.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex – as abuse victim issues warning

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex - as abuse victim issues warning

Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.

Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.

It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.

Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.

“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.

She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.

“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.

“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’

“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”

Bernie Ryan, the Chief Executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
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Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation

A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.

Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.

Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.

Read more from Sky News:
Suspect accused of Derby bank murder appears in court
Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’

Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.

It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.

According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.

Kerry pleads for other victims of abuse to leave before it's too late
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Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help

Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.

In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.

“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.

“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”

Injuries to Kerry's chest. Pic: CPS
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Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS

In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.

“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.

“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.

“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”

Kerry's neck injury. Pic: CPS
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Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS

Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.

“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”

Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.

“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”

Injury to Kerry's eye. Pic: CPS
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Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS

“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”

Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.

Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.

Bleeding in Kerry's eye
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Bleeding in Kerry’s eye

“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.

“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”

The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.

Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
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Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS

Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.

Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
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Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022

She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.

“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.

“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”

Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.

He will be sentenced in July.

If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.

The National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247

Women’s Aid

Respect, the helpline for male domestic abuse victims: 0808 8010327

Galop, the LGBT+ anti-violence charity: 0800 999 5428

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Two men found guilty of cutting down famous Sycamore Gap tree

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Two men found guilty of cutting down famous Sycamore Gap tree

Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.

An image of the Sycamore Gap standing, which was shown in evidence. This image was taken at approx. 5.20pm on Wednesday 27 September 2023.
Pic: CPS
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The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS

The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.

The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.

Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the trial.

Undated handout photo issued by Northumbria Police of Daniel Graham. Daniel Graham, 39, has been found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court alongside mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall. Both defendants will be sentenced on July 15. Issue date: Friday May 9, 2025.
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Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA

Undated handout photo issued by Northumbria Police of Adam Carruthers. Adam Carruthers, 32, has been found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court alongside groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall. Both defendants will be sentenced on July 15. Issue date: Friday May 9, 2025.
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Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA

In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.

The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.

Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’

Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.

As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.

Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham. Pic: CPS/PA
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Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA

Chainsaw and chunk of wood never found. Pic: PA
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An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA

Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”

Voice notes played in court

The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.

In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”

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Sycamore Gap seeds saved

Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.

The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.

From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.

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Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial

‘Mindless acts of violence’

Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.

Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.

Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.

She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.

‘Enormity of the loss’

Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.

“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”

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Moment Sycamore Gap tree cut down

Read more from the trial:
Two men went on ‘moronic mission’ to fell Sycamore Gap tree

Man told police he was being ‘framed’ over tree felling
Defendant says friend wanted to cut down world’s ‘most famous tree’
Jurors played voicenotes in Sycamore Gap tree trial

The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.

Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.

The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.

Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.

The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.

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