Alex Belfield found guilty of stalking Jeremy Vine and three others

Image above: Youtuber Alex Belfield; image from his Youtube account

Dubbed ‘the Jimmy Savile of trolling’ by Jeremy Vine

Former BBC employee Alex Belfield has been found guilty of stalking broadcaster Jeremy Vine and three others.

Jurors at Nottingham crown court accepted Belfield had caused serious alarm or distress to two victims – the BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith and videographer Ben Hewis.

They also found Belfield guilty of “simple” stalking in relation to Jeremy Vine and the theatre blogger Philip Dehany.

Earlier in the proceedings Jeremy described Belfield as “the Jimmy Saville of trolling”, saying watching his Youtube videos was like “swimming in sewage.”

Image above: Jeremy Vine

The court heard Jeremy had received 5,000 to 10,000 hateful tweets after Belfield’s comments and that his stalking had not only affected the presenter but also his family.

In his evidence Jeremy Vine said:

“I found it shocking and distressing, and it made me worried. I have in the past had a physical stalker who followed me. That is a picnic compared to this guy. It’s like an avalanche of hatred that you get hit by.”

Belfield was found not guilty of stalking Rozina Breen, the BBC’s former head of North; the former BBC Radio Leeds presenters Liz Green and Stephanie Hirst; and Helen Thomas, another former BBC worker.

He was granted bail and will be sentenced in September.

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar

See also: Council makes changes to over-complicated traffic management scheme in Grove Park & Strand on the Green

See also: Council extends parking restrictions in roads nearest Chiswick Cinema but not in other nearby roads

See all the latest stories: Chiswick Calendar News & Features

Support The Chiswick Calendar

The Chiswick Calendar CIC is a community resource. Please support us by buying us the equivalent of a monthly cup of coffee (or more, if you insist). Click here to support us.

We publish a weekly newsletter and update the website with local news and information daily. We are editorially independent.

To subscribe to the weekly newsletter, go here.