The  brother-in-law of former First Minister Humza Yousaf is to stand trial after he was charged with extortion and class A drug offences following the death of a man.

Ramsay El-Nakla, 37, pleaded not guilty via his legal team during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.

Co-accused Stephen Stewart, 51, Jennifer Souter, 39, and Victoria McGowan, 42, also face charges on the same indictment including the culpable homicide of 36-year-old Ryan Munro.

El-Nakla is not accused of being involved in the alleged killing. 

It is instead claimed that he along with the other three ‘with the intention of menacing’ Mr Munro did put him in a state of alarm that he would be harmed at a flat in Dundee on January 9 and 10 last year.

Prosecutors state they did ‘intimidate’ the man and did ‘extort a sum of money from him by threats’.

El-Nakla alone is separately accused of being concerned in the supply of cocaine in Dundee. Along with Stewart and McGowan, he faces a similar charge in relation to heroin. 

 Ryan Munro (pictured) plunged to his death from a block of flats in Dundee

A trial was set and is schedule to begin at Edinburgh High Court in December 2025. It could last around 10 days.

Stewart, Souter and McGowan meantime are alleged to have killed Mr Munro at the flat on January 10. 

It is claimed he was intimidated and threatened, put in ‘extreme’ fear and alarm, causing him to escape via a window at the property.

This is said to have seen him fall from a height. Prosecutors state Mr Munro was so severely hurt that he died.

Lawyers for Stewart, Souter and McGowan also pleaded not guilty on their behalf yesterday.

Stewart and Souter have each lodged a special defence of incrimination.

None of the four accused appeared in court.

A trial was set and is scheduled to begin in December at the High Court in Edinburgh. It could last around ten days.

A judge will be allocated at a later date.