Jail for Man who Stalked Jeremy Vine and Others
Broadcaster dubbed Alex Bellfield 'the Jimmy Savile' of trolling
Alex Bellfield. Picture: YouTube
A former host of a BBC radio show has been jailed for five years and a half years for stalking other broadcasters including Jeremy Vine.
42-year-old Alex Bellfield had been convicted at Nottingham Crown Court of four charges after that it was found that he undertook relentless campaigns of abuse against his victims leading Mr Vine to call him ‘the Jimmy Savile of trolling.’
Bellfield, who had worked as a DJ for BBC Radio Leeds, was found guilty of the more serious charge of causing serious alarm or distress to two of his victims and of a lesser stalking charge in relation to Mr Vine and theatre blogger Philip Dehany.
The stalking campaigns took place over a period of nine years. He made false accusations against people, including the claim that Jeremy Vine had stolen a thousand pounds from the BBC, and then broadcast them on his ‘Voice of Reason’ YouTube channel on which he had 500,000 followers. Some of the people following Bellfield took up the abuse and, in some cases, made death threats.
One of the victims, BBC Radio Northampton presenter, Bernie Keith, said that he was driven to considering suicide by what he described as a ‘tsunami of hate’ from Bellfield.
"It felt like I had a fish hook in my face and my flesh was being torn, and the only way to avoid further pain was to stay completely still," he said.
The judge felt that a custodial sentence was required despite the offences not fitting the ‘traditional’ patterns of stalking.
Bellfield did express some remorse in a report submitted to the court before the sentencing but the judge noted that Bellfield focused on the impact on himself and how he felt he had been unfairly treated.
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September 18, 2022
