A 40-year-old man who telephoned an asylum seekers’ hotel in Falkirk and warned “Get these people out, we’re coming” was spared jail on Friday after a sheriff said his threats were limited to a phone call rather than a public online post.
Scott Wyllie, of Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire, admitted statutory breach of the peace at Falkirk Sheriff Court and was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £200 compensation to the hotel worker who answered the call. Sheriff Paul Ralph said he had deliberately chosen to avoid custody on this occasion, noting differences between the defendant’s conduct and more public social media posts that had attracted custodial sentences.
Prosecutors told the court Wyllie telephoned the Hotel Cladhan in Falkirk at 11:55 p.m. last November. The call was automatically diverted to reception at the Park Hotel, part of the same hotel group, and was answered by a male member of night staff. The worker recorded the call, during which Wyllie said: “Get these people out of your hotel, because we’re coming. Yous can’t be doing this to kids. You can’t be raping girls, you can’t be raping boys. We’re f****** coming. Be scared. Be very f****** scared.” The staff member hung up and contacted police, leading to Wyllie’s arrest.
In court, defence solicitor Simon Hutchison said Wyllie was a married father of three with steady employment, who had largely led “a blameless life” and expressed significant remorse. Hutchison told the sheriff that three weeks before the call Wyllie had been told by a friend that the friend’s son had been severely sexually assaulted by two people who were said to have resided in the Cladhan Hotel, and that Wyllie had been distressed and intoxicated on the night he made the call.
Sheriff Ralph referenced other recent cases and the heightened local climate when explaining his sentence. He contrasted Wyllie’s telephone-only warnings with the case of Lucy Connolly, who received a 31-month prison term after posting on the social network X urging people to “set fire” to asylum hotels. The sheriff said that if Wyllie’s conduct had involved a more public display, a deterrent custodial sentence would have been more likely.
Falkirk has seen repeated demonstrations in recent weeks involving both pro- and anti-migration demonstrators. Tensions in the town were further inflamed earlier this year after an asylum seeker, 29-year-old Sadeq Nikzad from Afghanistan, was convicted in June of raping a 15-year-old girl in the town centre. The conviction and subsequent protests have placed scrutiny on hotels used to house asylum seekers, including the Cladhan.
The court heard the hotel worker who answered the phone was frightened by the tirade. Wyllie’s sentence requires him to complete unpaid work as a community disposal and to compensate the worker for the distress caused by the recorded call. No custodial sentence was imposed on the basis that the threats were not amplified through social media or other public platforms, the sheriff said.
Wyllie will be subject to the court-ordered unpaid work and the compensation payment. The case highlights how Scottish courts are weighing the form and reach of threats amid a backdrop of community tensions over asylum accommodation and recent high-profile prosecutions linked to inflammatory online posts.