"My initial reaction [to the stalking] was 'He's gone mad'," Mr Spedding told the trial. . Alex Belfield is convicted of stalking four people online but cleared of stalking four others. Belfield looked pale as he was led down to the cells as more than 20 of his supporters watched silently from the public gallery. 1. Count 5: BBC Radio Northampton's Bernie Keith, guilty of stalking to cause alarm and distress - Belfield has been given two-and-half years in prison on count 5; In relation to Jeremy Vine and theatre blogger Philip Dehany, Belfield was found guilty of two lesser offences of "simple" stalking, which does not require serious alarm or distress to be proved. But some of the complainants feel they never really got justice. "The Crown makes no submission that the overall sentence was, given the new knowledge of the legal position, inappropriate or unduly lenient," said Mr Justice Saini at Leicester Crown Court. Port Vale F.C. He told the jury he was seconds away from killing himself. A few months in, alarm bells started to ring, remembers Liz Green, who presented the lunchtime show that followed Belfields each day. Christmas is always Belfield's busiest time of the year. endstream endobj 563 0 obj <>/Metadata 36 0 R/Pages 560 0 R/StructTreeRoot 43 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences 579 0 R>> endobj 564 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 595.32 841.92]/Parent 560 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI]>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 565 0 obj <>stream As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Belfield started wearing Trump polo shirts and began campaigning against small boat crossings in the Channel, using a dinghy as a prop for his live shows. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Heres the facts on what happened. The judge referred to the victims graphic and distressing evidence in court about the impact of Belfields campaign of harassment, and how he had been just seconds away from dying by suicide. Ex-BBC presenter Alex Belfield's "campaign of harassment" had left Northampton's Bernie Keith "just seconds away" from suicide. It was lockdown that offered Belfield an opportunity to make some proper money. Within days, 15,000 people had signed a Free Alex Belfield petition and Hopkins was on Instagram mocking Belfields targets for whining about simple hurty words. Hewis tweet and email vindictively intended to destroy my career and reputation. Alex Belfield, who now runs a YouTube channel, stalked his victims by harassing them online. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? For just over three minutes, the 42-year-old delivered a monologue in which he said he was in prison for simply defending himself. Belfield, 42, showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered. All Rights Reserved. A "cruel" former BBC local radio presenter who stalked broadcasters including TV's Jeremy Vine and BBC Northampton 's Bernie Keith has been jailed for more than five years. He has been contacted 5 times to remove his outrageous claims. One of the complainants was his former colleague, Liz Green, who also presented a show at the radio station. Bernie confirms on air they think hes bonkers & loony toons. In his closing speech to jurors at Nottingham Crown Court, Belfield said he had a right to freedom of speech, and some of the communications were in his role as a journalist, holding the BBC to account. Alex Belfield is currently in prison after being convicted of stalking four men, Belfield made videos throughout his trial and posted them on YouTube. In relation to the women, the judge said: "Each of them suffered a campaign of harassment by email and social media communications. Each of them suffered serious mental health problems arising from Mr Belfields conduct, he said, imposing indefinite restraining orders preventing Belfield from contacting the women. BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith was left feeling suicidal by a "tsunami of hate", the trial heard. Furthermore, Alex was handed two-and-a-half years for the charge concerning BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith and a consecutive two-and-a-half year sentence over the stalking charge . "I had this naked hate being piled on me every day and I had to be funny and I had to entertain people," he said. Rozina Breen, the corporation's former Head of North, told . 'This was the darkest point of my life because there was no end to it. . It didnt work. Never miss a crime story with our free email updates. Read about our approach to external linking. But on August 5, 2022 he was found guilty of "simple stalking" regarding Vine and blogger Philip Dehany. Victim personal statements were not read out in court, but Mr Hewis tweeted his after the sentencing. Giving evidence in court, Vine said: I have in the past had a physical stalker who followed me. Prosecutor John McGuinness QC told Nottingham Crown Court that Alex Belfield's lies had a "devastating effect" on Bernie Keith, who presents the mid-morning show on the BBC station . Asked why it had not banned Belfield from its platform following his conviction, YouTube did not respond. But Breen thought he would bring personality to the station. Heres Celebrity Radios BBC Bernie Keith & Ben Hewis STATEMENT. I think the jury thought: Oh, it cant have been that bad. She says Belfield has destroyed her mental health, and that she was so frightened that he or his followers would turn up at her house, she spent 20,000 on security measures. 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While never submitting himself to cross-examination, he was allowed to deliver a pompous closing speech deriding the case as a BBC and police witch-hunt and describing himself as the No 1 anti-BBC journalist. The relief was temporary. 18:16, 4 JAN 2023. Alex Belfield is a 42-year-old former BBC radio star and vlogger who hails from Nottinghamshire. Even after YouTube stopped him making money from his channel, Belfield was still reasonably flush. "Stalking is a crime. Nobody from the corporation has apologised for what I and the others faced for more than a decade.. Belfield was also convicted of the simple stalking of theatre blogger Philip Dehany, who suffered a vicious campaign of abuse. The prosecution said the YouTuber's stalking was more akin to 'internet trolling' than physical stalking, sending emails, tweets or making videos and subjecting victims to harassment and abuse - some of them over the course of many years. We have begged the BBC to resolve this quietly and privately. That is a picnic compared to this guy. Belfield compared his treatment with that of a police officer who had escaped jail despite being convicted of possessing child abuse images. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Belfield also phoned Dehanys mother and then threatened to broadcast the call an outrageous and cruel act, said Saini and effectively sought to blackmail him by revealing details of a long-spent conviction. 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He also contacted Hewiss clients to undermine his business and encouraged his followers to join in with the abuse. He soon made enemies in the theatre world, says a director who started monitoring his online activities a few years ago (and who wishes to remain anonymous). He bought his detached house in Mapperley, Nottingham, for 314,950 in October 2018, and it is mortgaged. Both question why the corporation only really took the abuse seriously once a well-known man Vine was involved. 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Sometimes these emails included what the judge said were highly offensive and personal comments about their physical appearance, including sexualised comments as well as wholly false allegations that the women had bullied him. The verdicts in relation to each complainant were: Giving evidence to the trial, Mr Vine described Belfield's behaviour as "like an avalanche of hatred you get hit by", and "absolutely Olympic-level stalking, even for broadcasting". Between 2004 and 2010, he appeared on radio stations, including Mercia FM, Touch FM, BBC Bristol, BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester. 2023 BBC. 0 Belfield has worked for over 80 radio stations in the UK. First Belfield bawled out the stations beloved gardening correspondent for a perceived act of insubordination, prompting a surge of listener complaints. The eight complainants hoped to never hear from their tormenter again, only to discover that he had arranged for that one final, defiant video to go live after the judge sent him down, goading them from beyond his prison walls. There are lessons to learn clearly and the toxic nature of online hate will only get worse for staff. 578 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<64333CF35435EE40AE1982510F889B77>]/Index[562 42]/Info 561 0 R/Length 90/Prev 190620/Root 563 0 R/Size 604/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Breen sacked him on the spot, but agreed to honour the last two months of his contract. The judge told Belfield he will serve up to half of his sentence in prison and the remainder on licence. Another of Belfields victims was a videographer targeted after tweeting his disgust at one of the defendants YouTube videos, sending a foetal scan to the man and trying to contact his then-pregnant wife. How many people signed up for 1 a week is unclear, though some live streams attracted barely 300 viewers. 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., Last Friday, the four BBC women received an email saying the BBC had commissioned an internal review to establish what lessons can be learned from the recent criminal case. Labour MP Barry Sheerman is calling for an independent inquiry into how the BBC treated female staff who were harassed online by Belfield. . I hope you take some time to consider Bernie Keith's statement. The fact we were left unsupported from the acts of someone regarded as a prolific, now convicted, stalker is problematic. The sentences on each charge Belfield was convicted on: Count 5: BBC Radio Northampton's Bernie Keith, guilty of stalking to cause alarm and distress - Belfield has been given two-and-half years in prison on count 5; Count 6: Videographer Ben Hewis, guilty of stalking to cause alarm and distress - the sentence is consecutive to the previous term for the stalking of Mr Keith. For the best part of 10 years they had been complaining about Belfields vendetta, in which he sent hundreds, if not thousands, of emails to them and their superiors. 100+ emails sent/received from BBC & lawyers no defense of Spedding whatsoever. 'Because of the tsunami of hate and threats that were coming in to me, we had to have someone else sat in the building with me.'. The judge described Mr Dehanys mother as robust for the way she dealt calmly with Belfield, telling her: Everybody needs a mother like you. Mr Justice Saini said: It was an outrageous and cruel act to call her and make a recording, which Belfield later used as content on his channel. Online stalkers like you have the ability to recruit an army of followers whose conduct massively expands the effect of your stalking. 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He took photos of Hewiss wife and young child from social media and included them in his videos, even using a picture of a foetal scan showing Hewiss unborn baby as part of his relentless email campaign of harassment. The Guardian asked Bridgen if he regretted supporting Belfield and did not receive a response. For each of these charges he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, to run consecutively. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Jurors convicted Belfield, of Mapperley, Nottingham, of four charges committed between 2012 and 2021 and for each of these charges, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, to run consecutively. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Alex Belfield was convicted of four charges following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court, Belfield was found guilty of "simple" stalking in relation to BBC presenter Jeremy Vine, Belfield was previously a presenter at BBC Radio Leeds, Belfield made videos throughout his trial and posted them on YouTube. 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Its not enough to leave us to sink and swim, as we had to in this case, Breen wrote in an email to Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBCs director of nations. endstream endobj startxref We cover what people are talking about every day and celebrate the very best that this incredible part of the world has to offer. I live in fear and I have done for a long time, she says. Alex Belfields online harassment made life misery for BBC presenters Jeremy Vine, Liz Green and many others. ?99 WVdb5KckkVQg;E!qr 0^^jY{EILg%)%4BfyCyvy) Breen says she and others flagged Belfields behaviour repeatedly but were told just not to look at the emails, or to delete them.
