Nicola Sturgeon due to finish first draft of memoir weeks before husband Peter Murrell charged

The First Minister previously said she was finding the writing process harder than she thought

Nicola Sturgeon had been due to finish a first draft of her memoir just a couple of weeks before her husband was arrested for a second time and charged with embezzlement of SNP funds.

The First Minister told an event in December that she was working to complete a first draft “by the end of March”. Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was charged by police on Thursday in connection with the alleged embezzlement of party funds.

It came more than a year after the 59-year-old was originally arrested as part of the investigation known as Operation Branchform. Ms Sturgeon was arrested in June and released without charge on the same day.

Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seen leaving her home in Glasgow. Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Speaking to the media outside the couple’s home on the outskirts of Glasgow on Friday, she said the situation was “incredibly difficult”, adding: “I can’t say anymore, I’m not going to say any more.”

Pan Macmillan previously purchased the rights to her memoir, which is due to be published in August next year, following a fierce bidding contest. It is not known how any potential legal proceedings against Mr Murrell might affect publication.

Last year, the former first minister said the process of writing the book was harder than she thought it would be, and progress was slow.

Speaking during an in-conversation event at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, she said she did not want to rush it, adding: "It's a big thing to think that you can produce a book that other people want to read and you want to do that justice.

"I would never contemplate having a ghost writer or even somebody who would help write it in that sense. It's something I want to do. It's about my life, I want to obviously do it justice from that perspective.

"But then yeah, you also realise that you're a politician. People think they want to read your book today, they might not want to read your book in six months or a year or two years' time, so finding that sweet spot I suppose is a bit of a challenge."

Ms Sturgeon said her life had run parallel to “the most momentous period in modern Scottish history”.