Ex-lawyer jailed for sending threatening letters to Scotland's Lord Advocate and others
A former New York lawyer, Matthew Sylvestre, 61, has been sentenced to over three years in prison for sending threatening letters to Scotland's most senior law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, and to Nadia El-Nakla, wife of former first minister Humza Yousaf.
Sylvestre sent handwritten notes to the home of Lord Advocate Bain warning that "something nasty" could happen to her relatives unless he received the keys to his flat and his wallet. Additionally, he sent emails containing offensive and threatening language to Nadia El-Nakla, causing her to fear for her and her family's safety.
He was acquitted of charges of threatening or abusive behavior towards former Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Sylvestre was also convicted last month of assaulting Sgt Mark Ross, then a detective constable, causing severe injury during his arrest in Perth.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Colbeck addressed Sylvestre, stating:
"Your culpability was significant with the two messages which you sent 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 judge described the messages as "an attack on the administration of justice" and sentenced Sylvestre to three years and four months imprisonment. Upon release, he will be supervised for 12 months to protect the public from serious harm. An indefinite non-harassment order was also granted concerning El-Nakla, prohibiting Sylvestre from any contact with her.
Lord Advocate felt 'alarmed'
The court heard that on 23 April 2024, Lord Advocate Bain received an envelope at her home addressed to her. 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 explained to jurors that Bain believed this to refer to her son Jamie and her sisters. The note alarmed her due to the specific mention of her son, who was living in southern England at the time, the reference to her sisters, and the accurate home address on the envelope—details not publicly known.
She handed the envelope and note to the police. Days later, another envelope was delivered to her home, which she gave to police unopened. This envelope contained a further handwritten note stating:
"keys flAT wallet FLAT COMPO RELEASE OR CHAINSAW"
Fingerprints matching Sylvestre's were found on the envelopes. He denied authoring the letters, claiming that paper and envelopes had been stolen from him while he was in prison.
Sinister emails to Nadia El-Nakla
Between October 2023 and March 2024, Sylvestre sent emails to Nadia El-Nakla, a Dundee councillor and spouse of Humza Yousaf, from addresses including one at Victoria Place, Cullen, in Moray. One email referenced her pregnancy, stating:
"God willing nothing will go wrong."
El-Nakla was the only victim to give evidence during the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. Sylvestre claimed he wrote to her out of concern for the conflict in Gaza but also discussed other topics, including the Scottish National Party's planned drug consumption rooms.
Previous convictions and behaviour
Following his conviction, the jury learned Sylvestre had previously been sentenced to eight years at the High Court for a serious assault in 2004. That offence involved attacking a man at his home in Moray by shooting him in the back of the head, striking him with the butt of a gun, and stabbing him with a sword.
Defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC stated that Sylvestre had spent time at the high-security State Hospital at Carstairs following that conviction.
In May 2024, prison officers at Perth jail searched a cell occupied by Sylvestre and another inmate. They discovered a letter Sylvestre had written to First Minister John Swinney, in which he claimed to be the victim of a "personal vendetta." McConnachie commented during 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."
