Former New York lawyer who threatened Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain and Nadia El-Nakla jailed

A man convicted of threatening or abusive behaviour towards Scotland’s senior law officer and the wife of a former Scottish first minister has been jailed for three years and four months.

Matthew Sylvestre, 61, sent notes to the home of Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, warning that “something nasty” could happen to her relatives if he did not get the keys to his flat and his wallet.

Sylvestre also sent emails to Nadia El-Nakla, the spouse of Humza Yusaf, in which he used offensive and threatening language, causing her alarm and fear for her safety and her family’s safety.

He was acquitted of further charges alleging that he acted in a threatening or abusive way towards former Police Scotland chief constable Iain Livingstone and MP Jeremy Corbyn.

Sylvester, a former New York lawyer, was also convicted of assaulting sergeant Mark Ross, then a detective constable, resulting in his severe injury during his arrest in Perth.

Judge Lord Colbeck told Sylvestre at the sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow: “Your culpability was significant with the two messages which you sent to the then Lord Advocate, which were sinister and implied a threat to her son and sisters.

“You are clearly an educated man, but the manner you choose to engage with high-profile public figures is unacceptable, as was the assault on a police officer.

“Sending offensive messages while drinking is not an excuse, it is an aggravator.

“The messages you sent to the then Lord Advocate amount to an attack on the administration of justice.

“Those who are in the administration of justice must be protected from the type of behaviour which you chose to engage in.

“Those who seek to undermine the administration of justice by threatening behaviour should be in no doubt that they will be brought to justice.”

Sylvestre will also be supervised upon his release from prison for 12 months “to protect the public from serious harm.”

An indefinite non-harassment order was granted in respect of Ms El-Nakla, which prohibits Sylvestre from contacting her in any way.

The court previously heard that the Lord Advocate had an envelope delivered to her home and addressed to her on April 23, 2024.

Inside was a handwritten note stating: “Give me the keys of my flat and my wallet or something nasty will happen to Janie down south England and to your sisters.”

Advocate depute Adrian Stalker told jurors in agreed evidence: “Dorothy Bain believed this to be a reference to her son Jamie and her sisters.”

“The note made her feel alarmed due to the specific reference to her son, the fact that her son was then living in the south of England, the reference to her having sisters and that the envelope accurately stated her home address. None of these matters were public knowledge.”

She gave the envelope and note to the police, and days later, a further envelope was delivered to her home, which she passed on to the police without opening.

It was found to contain a further handwritten note stating: “keys flAT wallet FLAT COMPO RELEASE OR CHAINSAW”.

Sylvestre’s fingerprints were found on the envelopes, but he denied writing to the Lord Advocate and claimed that the paper and envelopes were stolen from him while he was in prison.

Ms El-Nakla, a Dundee councillor, was sent emails by Sylvestre between October 2023 and March the following year from an address in Cullen, in Moray, and elsewhere.

One post mentioned her pregnancy, stating: “God willing nothing will go wrong.”

Ms El-Nakla was the only victim of Sylvestre to give evidence during the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Sylvestre said he wrote to her because he was concerned about the conflict in Gaza.

But he also wrote about other things, including the SNPs’ planned drug consumption rooms.

In one email, he suggested Ms El-Nakla could invite drug users to her family home in Broughty Ferry, saying she “could serve them lunch while talking about Islam” as they “shoot up heroin in the living room”.

Ms El-Nakla said she was concerned Sylvestre had identified her address and named three prisoners.

Sylvestre told the court: “That was meant to be funny. Maybe not funny. I’m sorry.”

When asked if his claims in another email – “Islam fosters violence and every evil under the sun” – were Islamaphobic, he said: “That’s a politically charged woke term.”

But he admitted sending this to a Muslim person was “maybe” abusive.

Following his conviction, the jury heard that Sylvestre was previously sentenced to eight years imprisonment at the High Court for a serious assault offence in 2004.

That case involved Sylvestre attacking a man at his home in Moray, shooting him in the back of the head, battering him with the butt of the gun and stabbing him with a sword.

Defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC said that Sylvestre spent some time at the high security State Hospital at Carstairs following the conviction.

The court heard in May 2024 that prison officers at Perth jail carried out a search of a cell occupied by Sylvestre and another inmate and found a letter he had written to First Minister John Swinney.

In it, he wrote: “I have been the subject of a personal vendetta by your predecessor Humza Yousaf and his wife.

“I allegedly sent emails, which were by no means threatening or menacing, one having congratulating her on her impending new arrival to her family, one criticising Hamas, a recognised terrorist group, and one calling for tight immigration restrictions for Palestinians in light of the October 7 atrocities.

“I had my door kicked in by the police, I was stalked by 17 police constables, thus far, including the CID,” he said.

Mr McConnachie told the sentencing: “There is nothing I can say about the circumstances of the offence.

“Having heard him give his evidence, there is a degree of eccentricity in relation to him.”