A jury convicted YouTube radio host Alex Belfield of stalking four victims including BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine and Northampton BBC Radio's Bernie Keith. Belfield, 42, of Shaldon Close in Mapperley, had opted not to give evidence in his defence before giving a closing speech last week, claiming he was a whistle-blower who had seen two-and-a-half years of his life “torn apart” by police inquiries.
Prosecutors alleged Belfield used social media messages, videos and emails to cause serious alarm or distress to his victims including Channel 5 and BBC Radio 2 presenter Mr Vine and BBC Radio Northampton’s Bernie Keith after his contract with BBC Radio Leeds was not renewed.
He faced eight stalking allegations, where he is said to have caused alarm and distress. He was cleared of four and convicted of 4 charges - two were alternatives of "simple stalking". They were:
Count 1: His former immediate boss, Rozina Breen, not guilty
Count 2: Another broadcaster, Liz Green, not guilty
Count 3: Helen Thomas, who was the managing editor at BBC Radio Leeds, not guilty
Count 4: Former BBC presenter Stephanie Hirst, not guilty
Count 5: BBC Radio Northampton's Bernie Keith, guilty of stalking to cause alarm and distress
Count 6: Videographer Ben Hewis, guilty of stalking to cause alarm and distress
Count 7: Philip Dehany, not guilty to stalking to cause alarm and distress but guilty to simple stalking
Count 8: Jeremy Vine, not guilty to stalking to cause alarm and distress but guilty to simply stalking
Mr Vine teared up at one point as he spoke of what happened to him, and even described it as "the Jimmy Savile of trolling". "It felt like I had a fish hook placed in my face and my flesh was being torn".
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He said his nerves were shredded and he could not eat or sleep and "I felt wounded". The accomplished broadcaster, who has two daughters and lives in London, told the Nottingham Crown Court jury on Wednesday, July 13: "This is absolutely Olympic-level stalking, even for broadcast".
Meanwhile, Mr Keith used to do stand-up comedy events, including some for charity, but the jury had heard his live shows stopped because, Mr Keith claimed, Belfield had an "obsession" with him promoting the live shows on his radio show.
Belfield had told he had chosen not to testify because a transcript of his police interviews had been read to the jury. Asserting that his position had not changed since his comments to police, Belfield said of his time at the BBC: “I in fact was bullied – I in fact was the victim.
“I have never been a threat to anyone at the BBC other than to expose what they don’t want me to talk about. They spend their time begging for whistle-blowers and when I whistle-blowed they tried to shut me down. Why did they do that? Because they don’t want me to have a voice.”
During his speech, Belfield denied making death threats to anyone, adding: “I think lockdown made it fun to close me down… because I am the only person in lockdown who actually became more successful.
“My channel took off during lockdown because people were lonely – I became their voice of reason. Had there been a death threat there is absolutely no way the BBC would have thrown them in the bin.”
Saying he had been strip-searched and “thrown in a van” by police, Belfield argued that stalking actually involved “stealth” while nothing he had done had been “behind closed doors”. “My opening line to the police was ‘this is a witch-hunt’,” Belfield said. “A witch-hunt is a load of people getting together to get rid of someone they don’t like.
“That’s what this is. Why would you wade into something that’s nothing to do with you?” Accusing complainants including Mr Vine of subjecting him to a “pile-on” to shut him down, Belfield added: “Instead of accepting my opinion… they wanted it closed down.
“All I simply wanted to do is tell the truth. As a whistle-blower at the BBC, I was there for 15 years and I saw where the bodies were buried, if you like. I was the most successful anti-BBC journalist in the country by simply going to the press office for freedom of information (requests). I have had two-and-a-half years of my life torn apart by these people.”
Belfield, who described himself as “a Nottingham lad with a potty mouth”, also said he had paid for his house by selling stories about the BBC to newspapers. He also gave “route to verdict” directions to the jury, telling them they were entitled to draw such inferences as appeared proper from Belfield’s decision not to give evidence. The judge said the jury must not convict Belfield “wholly or even mainly” on his failure to give evidence.
He told the jury: “A journalist is entitled to be provocative and controversial. The prosecution say that what Mr Belfield did went beyond any reasonable exercise of free speech rights.” Mr Belfield’s case was that he had acted reasonably, the judge said.
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