“The clock is running” to prosecute Nicola Sturgeon’s husband in connection with the alleged embezzlement of SNP party funds, a defence advocate has said.

Peter Murrell, 59, was charged in April by police as part of Operation Branchform, a long-running investigation into SNP finances, but prosecutors from the Crown Office have yet to issue information over further action.

In Scotland, a police charge is a preliminary step before prosecutors decide whether to take the case to court.

Murrell, who was chief executive of the SNP for 23 years, married former first minister Ms Sturgeon in 2010 and has been arrested twice during the SNP finance investigation.

The couple share a home in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, which was searched by police and forensics officers.

Ms Sturgeon was also questioned in June 2023, but was not charged.

Sottish criminal defence lawyer Thomas Leonard Ross KC told Sky News the probe “cannot go on indefinitely”.

He said: “Once somebody is charged then they have the right to a trial within a reasonable time.

“Before a person is formally charged, there might be an argument as to whether the clock is efficiently running.

“There is absolutely no doubt that it is running in relation to Mr Murrell, so certainly the police and Crown Office have to be alive to that.

“The police inquiry cannot go on indefinitely.”

Nationalist campaigner Sean Clerkin triggered the investigation in 2021 after raising concerns about more than £600,000 raised for a second referendum.

Mr Clerkin told Sky News he had received death threats, and urged that the probe be finished before the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026.

He said: “All these years down the line I have been persecuted by nationalists on social media and at rallies, threatening to do me in, threatened to take me out. I have had death threats.

“This case has to be wound up by the end of this year. In terms of the investigation, for us to have free and fair elections in 2026 without this hanging over any of the pro-independence parties.”

An SNP spokesman said: “While the police investigation has reportedly been completed and passed over to the Crown Office, the case remains active and it would be inappropriate to comment.”

The Crown Office has been contacted for comment.