The former Scottish First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is still under police investigation, but it is not to do with Operation Branchform. Officers are looking into avoidable Covid-19 deaths after Ms Sturgeon was reported in March 2023 by campaigners Lesley Roberts, Roger Livermore and Rab Wilson. The trio alleged that people at the top of the SNP government during the pandemic were guilty of corporate manslaughter, the Scottish Daily Express reports.

Ms Roberts, 57, who was an infection control nurse with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in 2020, has now handed in her fifth and last statement to Police Scotland from Operation Koper, an investigation launched by the Crown Office into thousands of deaths in care homes, hospitals and other public places. She was shocked by decisions taken by politicians, like moving untested and elderly hospital patients into care homes.

Ms Roberts has supplied the police with phone call recordings she made during 2020 and 2021 as she campaigned for nurses to be given better PPE and face masks and raised the alarm about some of medication being used to treat Covid patients and the widespread use of Do Not Attempt CPR/Do Not Resuscitate orders.

"As far as I'm concerned, Nicola Sturgeon is still under investigation,” she said. “I've never been told otherwise and the police were only here at my house last week.

"I've always said it starts at the top and works its way down.

“You've got Sturgeon, [Jeane] Freeman [Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport from 2018 to 2021] and the cabal of incompetence, then you've got the public sector agreeing with their nonsense on masks, DNACPR and all the rest of it.

“Where did it all come from if it didn't come down from the top? I believe that by deleting messages they have covered up those decisions.”

Ms Roberts added: "The police are saying this might take another five years to investigate. [Sturgeon] is sitting there with not a care in the world but I'm sorry, this is still ongoing.

“She is appearing at book fairs and comedy clubs, with not a thought about what she did, not a thought about the lives that were removed through choices made at the top."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We understand how upsetting and difficult this is for the many families who lost loved ones as a result of the Covid pandemic. Police Scotland is supporting the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) review into relevant deaths.

"While we continue to gather information, a number of investigations are ongoing at the request of COPFS. As the investigations are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Ms Sturgeon, Ms Freeman and the SNP were contacted by the Express and offered the chance to respond.