The BBC has been accused by senior female employees of failing to help them during a 10-year campaign of harassment against them by a former local radio presenter, Alex Belfield, who is now in jail for stalking.
The women – who include the corporation’s outgoing director of BBC England, Helen Thomas – are furious that the BBC wouldn’t commission an independent investigation into how it “ignored” their suffering until a high-profile man, Jeremy Vine, became a Belfield target.
Belfield, who held a grudge against the women after being sacked from Radio Leeds in 2011, where they all worked at one time, was jailed for five-and-a-half years in September after being found guilty of stalking Vine and three other men.
A judge said the 42-year-old had “weaponised the internet” by recruiting an “army of followers” to join in his abuse, which amplified the abuse and “is in many respects more serious than a conventional stalker”.
A jury found Belfield not guilty of stalking Thomas, presenters Liz Green and Stephanie Hirst and former Radio Leeds editor Rozina Breen. But Mr Justice Saini ruled that the four women were targeted by Belfield in “a personal campaign of revenge”.
The campaign involved thousands of emails sent over 10 years, as well as numerous freedom of information requests and subject access requests, which “terrified” the women and left them all needing psychological support.
Imposing an indefinite restraining order preventing Belfield from contacting the women, Mr Justice Saini said that, applying the civil standard, Belfield had committed “statutory harassment causing distress and alarm”.
In interviews for the Guardian feature, Green and Breen questioned why the corporation only really took the abuse seriously once a high-profile man – Vine – became a target in April 2020, eight years after Belfield started to harass them. “The optics aren’t good,” said Breen.
After the verdicts, the women asked the BBC to commission an independent investigation into how it handled their complaints. Instead, the BBC has decided to commission an internal review, led by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s deputy director of editorial standards.
“This is so deeply disappointing but no surprise,” said Green, who is negotiating a departure from the BBC. “On one level, whatever they offer to do about four women left exposed to threat and ignored for 10 years, it’s come far too late. On another, their refusal for an independent inquiry is shocking. There is no BBC stalking policy as we speak. It could be interpreted as a reluctance to expose systemic failings and a complete failure in duty of care. Perhaps that independent review would expose those at the very top (men) who left us exposed.”
Breen and Thomas are particularly upset that when they complained about Belfield’s harassment –– which included what the judge said were “wholly inaccurate” claims that they had bullied him out of his BBC job –– the corporation’s HR department launched an investigation into the bullying claims but not the harassment they suffered. The women say they were exonerated but claim they were told to simply “ignore” the torrent of abuse on email, YouTube and social media. Thomas told the jury she was told by one of her superiors to “man up”.
In a statement, the BBC said: “We know this has been very difficult for those involved and we continue to provide support to current and former staff. We also want to learn from this to ensure we offer the best possible support to all colleagues, who may sadly experience the threat and risks of online stalking in the future.”
Vine said: “It is very, very important that the BBC learn lessons from the victims of Belfield at BBC Leeds. It was hard to take any satisfaction from the jailing of this despicable man when he will not serve a single day in jail for what he did to the four Leeds women.”
