Tuesday 5 July 2022 05:39 PM Alex Belfield 'stalked Jeremy Vine and ex colleagues in ferocious, relentless ... trends now
A former BBC Radio 2 DJ accused of stalking Jeremy Vine waged a nine year 'campaign of harassment' against his former colleagues after being axed from his mid-morning show, a court heard.
Alex Belfield, 42, is accused of stalking eight members of BBC staff after bosses failed to renew his contract at BBC Radio Leeds in 2011.
He stalked BBC radio star Jeremy Vine which left him 'distressed' and struggling to eat and sleep, the court heard.
He bombarded presenters, editors and other colleagues with vile emails, tweets, messages and uploaded videos to his Youtube channel, jurors were told.
Belfield also branded Vine a 'sanctimonious p***', 'a c***' and 'scum-sucking pond life' and offered to pay people to harass him, it was claimed.
The court heard the constant bombardment of abuse left Vine's 'sense of well-being and optimism destroyed' and led to him taking security measures to protect his family.
Belfield also branded his managing editor an 'odious vile woman' and a 'spineless weasel' as well as making 'sickening, misogynistic and transphobic' remarks.
His actions were said to have caused his victims 'serious alarm and distress' which impacted their daily lives due to the 'ferocious and relentless' abuse.
Today Belfield, of Mapperley, Notts., went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court accused of eight counts of stalking.
Alex Belfield, 42, (pictured) is accused of stalking Jeremy Vine waged a nine year 'campaign of harassment' against his former colleagues after being axed from his mid-morning show
Jeremy Vine, (pictured) faced a wave of abuse online after false and entirely baseless claims were made relating to the supposed theft of £1,000, the court heard
He could be seen smirking and nodding in the dock as some of the messages he was alleged to have sent were read out to the court.
Opening the case, prosecutor John McGuinness QC said Belfield had made a string of 'distressing and gratuitous' allegations against his former workmates.
He said: 'The alleged victims did not want to be contacted by Alex Belfield, they did not want to see or hear or know what it was that he was saying about them.
'But he went ahead and did it anyway, relentlessly harassing them, knowing or being aware he was harassing them - to the extent that what he did caused them serious alarm or distress which affected their daily lives for the worse.
'Some of the conduct alleged goes back many years to 2011-2012. Other conduct alleged against the defendant is much more recent, going back to 2019-2020.'
Jeremy Vine, the court heard, faced a wave of abuse online after false and entirely baseless claims were made relating to the supposed theft of £1,000.
Belfield is said to have developed a 'dislike, almost hatred' of Mr Vine after the BBC donated the sum to a memorial fund set up to honour a friend of the broadcaster.
Mr McGuinness added: 'Jeremy Vine was subjected to a constant bombardment of harassing tweets and YouTube videos from Alex Belfield.
'The original cause of Alex Belfield's online attacks on Jeremy Vine arose out of what would appear to have been an unexceptional event.
'On April 8 on YouTube, Alex Belfield said on his channel: 'Jeremy
