Female BBC employees who were harassed online by former radio presenter Alex Belfield have accused the corporation of failing to help them. The fact we were left unsupported from the acts of someone regarded as a prolific, now convicted, stalker is problematic. The judge explained he did not question the verdicts of the jurors, but was applying the civil standard of proof when making the restraining orders. Barring a successful appeal, Belfield will serve at least the next two years and 39 weeks in jail, before being released on licence to serve the second half of his sentence. He said he feared that at some point one of the 400,000 people watching Belfield's videos was "going to take a knife or acid to my home". Belfield was given a total of five years and 26 weeks in prison, of which he will serve half, on all four charges he was convicted of. He presents a YouTube channel called Voice of Reason, which has over 361,000 subscribers. Celebrity interviewer Alex Belfield has ignited a public spat with one of his guests - multi-millionaire plumbing boss Charlie Mullins OBE - ahead of their explosive chat being aired on Ustreme. 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. 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. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Talking about his age then, Belfield is 42 years old (as of 2022). Breen sacked him on the spot, but agreed to honour the last two months of his contract. Bernard Spedding - guilty (majority verdict), Philip Dehany - not guilty to the charge on the indictment but guilty of the alternative charge of "simple" stalking (majority verdict), Jeremy Vine - not guilty to the charge on the indictment but guilty of the alternative charge of "simple" stalking (unanimous verdict). September 17, 2022 2:36am. Steven J Miller, another YouTuber, explained Belfields initial appeal in his own video, recorded after Belfield was jailed: Alex Belfield was responsible for putting smiles on thousands and thousands of peoples faces and he did that not by slagging people off but by him being him. People loved Belfields innuendos, said Miller, giving an example of when Belfield filmed himself on a train platform as a train whizzed by and exclaimed: Oh, I nearly got sucked off!. However, even accepting the latitude our laws give to those exercising free speech rights, on the jurys verdicts you exceeded the generous margins. The effect on Keiths life was profound. His last company, Champagne Sippers, incorporated in December 2020, has never filed company accounts. That is why I say your stalking is in many respects more serious than a conventional stalker, the judge said. To those who had been monitoring Belfields output for the past few years, it was no surprise that he wanted the final word. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. Those readers and viewers then joined the abuse of the complainants in a way which is sadly now a familiar feature of social media interaction. I'm thrilled justice has been served & excited to move on with the rest of my life. Some feel he was given too much power in his own trial. 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. Alex Belfield, 42, subjected his colleague to a "wave of personal and unpleasant attacks" on Yo Alas, Alex Belfield has been found guilty of the relentless stalking of other broadcasters, including Jeremy Vine, who he subjected to an "avalanche of hatred". The day he was found guilty he was wearing a Bermuda shirt and shorts. Alex Belfields conduct, in the form of messages, broadcasts, insults, and threats, left his victims fearful and anxious. Most of it had been withdrawn by Belfield by the time GoFundMe got around to banning him for inappropriate off-platform behaviour, with the exception of 5,260, which was refunded to donors. But some of the complainants feel they never really got justice. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Nobody from the corporation has apologised for what I and the others faced for more than a decade.. Belfield had harassed this victim, BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernard Spedding, for nine years and some of his followers had sent him death threats. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Will you do the same? By Profession, he is a British radio presenter, journalist, and entertainer. Alex Belfield, a YouTuber and former local BBC radio host, has been found guilty of stalking four people including the broadcaster Jeremy Vine. Statistics say that he only makes about two thousand dollars a month from YouTube ad revenues.Alex is from Nottinghamshire and he started his career as a part of the launch team of Radio 106 and that was more than two decades ago. Picture date: Thursday August 4, 2022. Alex Belfield, whose YouTube channel has 350,000 followers, used social media and emails to stalk four victims. Alex belfield get an SPO case 7th March 2023 Retro, On his bikes 1.35K subscribers Join Subscribe 112 Share 3.6K views 2 weeks ago As i promised i would bring you more news about the record. It doesnt mean only physically, it also includes online activity, emails and phone calls watching, spying or forcing contact with the victim through any means, including through social media.. Alex denies the stalking on 12 counts. Alex Belfield: Sentencing Remarks and Judgment The Black Belt Barrister explained in a video HERE how the judge reached Belfield's sentence. The final two victims who went to court and testified against Belfield were both from the theatre world. I was afraid because you have to think around corners with this stuff. 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These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. The police are advised to consider applying for an order where it appears to them that: The respondent has carried out acts associated with stalking;The respondent poses a risk of stalking to a person; andThere is reasonable cause to believe the proposed order is necessary to protect the other person from that risk. Alex Belfield and Katie Hopkins in a video on her YouTube channel, advertising the show they did together. Alex has never had a proper job. 17/11/20 - 16:49 #24. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It is hoped that the health street will also support new initiatives, such as Integrated Care Systems and social prescribing, which in some cases tells people to attend groups and activities, rather than prescribing medicine. The BBC is guilty of a "miscarriage of justice" over its "unacceptable" and total lack of support for female employees who were harassed for 10 years by the jailed stalker Alex Belfield . Prosecutors claimed Belfield subjected Vine to a relentless online campaign that included a wave of personal and unpleasant attacks on YouTube,TwitterandFacebookover an 11-month period. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. All he had done, he suggested, was challenge people who had said things I believed to be untrue. Another BBC radio presenter, a transgender woman called Stephanie Hirst, became Belfields next target after refusing him an interview after her transition. Worse, in 2013, a few years into Belfields campaign against her and Breen, the BBCs HR team chose to launch an investigation not into their harassment, but into whether they were guilty of bullying Belfield. Breen and Green both think the BBC failed all four women who gave evidence against Belfield. How many people signed up for 1 a week is unclear, though some live streams attracted barely 300 viewers. Im clearly of more risk to this country than a man who is attracted to children, he deadpanned. One day, Green says she found a talented young producer crying in the toilets after being shouted at by Belfield. "The danger came from the online traffic, not from the individual," he said, adding Belfield wanted to "create so much hatred against me that someone acted by proxy". Tour Dates - Alex Belfield - The Voice of Reason Tour Dates Get tickets to see Alex Belfield LIVE at these venues. Sentencing, Mr Justice Saini said Belfields stalking methods were just as effective a way of intimidating victims and in many ways much harder to deal with than traditional stalking. 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. In September 1997, Belfield began his career as part of the launch team of Radio 106. Why does he have to make things harder?This \"ferocious and relentless abuse\" that's what they said, is causing emotional and mental harm to your fellow ex-colleagues. His actions have caused serious alarm and distress among his victims mainly Bernie Keith and videographer Ben Hirst and he is not stopping there. 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. He posted videos and messages online about his victims and encouraged his followers to target them. YouTubers have waded in with their views on "the Jimmy Savile of trolling" Alex Belfield after he was sentenced to more than five years in prison, and now plans to appeal. His appeal application was received one month after sentencing. FORMER BBC radio presenter, Alex Belfield, has been jailed for five and a half years. Hot My personal opinion of YouTube's newest sensation, Alex Belfield, is that he's a bit of a pervy bell-end! This case fails CPS criteria by a mile as well as both BBC and police codes of conduct.It was a conspiracy (more than one party acting together) to transgress human rights. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Change.org Uh oh. It does not store any personal data. Vine said it is very, very important that the BBC learn lessons from what happened to the women at BBC Leeds. Both question why the corporation only really took the abuse seriously once a well-known man Vine was involved. He was found guilty of offences in relation to two of the complainants BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith, and videographer Ben Hewis, who has tweeted his victim statement (copied below). Unable to work and claiming to be on 86-a-week universal credit when the theatres shut, Belfield reinvented himself as a rightwing shockjock. When sentencing Belfield, Mr Justice Saini told him: 'Your offences are so serious, only a custodial sentence can be justified.'. Related posts: Bernie Clifton Vegas Interview 2018 Keith Elliot Greenberg Interview - The Day John Lennon Died Keith Chegwin Exclusive 2015 Interview Celebrity Big Brother. Being equally honest, I'm very jealous of his success. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It was classic Belfield. Petition by: Free Alex Belfield. The 42-year-old, from Nottingham, is due to be sentenced on 16 September and has been warned he could be jailed. But Breen thought he would bring personality to the station. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. For the TV presenter Jeremy Vine, the most high-profile target of arguably Britains most prolific troll, it would be the first time in several years that he could host a live phone-in without worrying that one of Belfields acolytes would hijack the programme to confront him with Belfields lies. The BBC is conducting an internal review "to establish . "The Jimmy Savile of trolling" Alex Belfield, a former BBC radio presenter and vlogger, has had his bid for leave to appeal refused by a single judge. Belfield has worked for over 80 radio stations in the UK. A total of 250 homes would be built on land off Shilo Way in Awsworth, if councillors follow a recommendation to approve the plan at Broxtowe Borough Council's planning committee on March 8. 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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. "He had to ask his family to watch out for you and to take care in and around their home address.". When blocked on Twitter he used other accounts to see what I was tweeting and routinely publicly mocked me to his social media followers, posting screengrabs he could only have obtained by using an account that I hadn't blocked.". The full wording of the charges stated he "pursued a course of conduct that amounted to harassment" of the complainants, which "amounted to stalking" and caused them "serious alarm or distress". We were the learning curve for Belfield. But on August 5, 2022 he was found guilty of "simple stalking" regarding Vine and blogger Philip Dehany. Vine told BBC Two's Newsnight social media firms "don't care" about hosting such material, leaving him "broken". For other inquiries, Contact Us. Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has hit out at social media firms as he said his stalker had put out a video promising to be back. He would harass some theatre companies, to the extent that his email address was blocked, and front of house staff were warned about him., Belfield had a complicated relationship with the entertainment industry, the director believes. )Well there go clearly this an open and shut case. "They take down individual videos and then when he's convicted, they demonetised him. Then, during a broadcast at Leeds Playhouse, he asked an elderly lady what colour knickers she was wearing, resulting in the theatre boycotting the station. 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