21 July 2023 , 13:26
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The man convicted of stalking Jeremy Vine will pay "substantial" damages to the British broadcaster in a civil claim for waging a campaign of "hurtful and distressing" harassment against him, the High Court has been told.
Former BBC Radio Leeds presenter Alex Belfield wished to "apologise unreservedly" for making "false allegations of dishonestly" after settling a civil claim for harassment and defamation put forward by Vine, a judge heard on Thursday.
Vine's lawyer, Gervase de Wilde, said that Belfield had initially been “defiant” to the claim, having denied liability and referred to the broadcaster as a “liar” in a video. After being found guilty of stalking by a jury in Nottingham Crown Court in separate criminal proceedings last year, however, the radio host accepted his claims of dishonesty against Vine were untrue.
Belfield, 43, was jailed for five years and 26 weeks in September after being convicted of stalking four people, including the BBC and Channel 5 journalist.
Ahead of handing down the sentence, Mr Justice Sainti said that Belfield made "wholly false allegations" that reached a "substantial audience" in nine YouTube videos and eight tweets. "Online stalkers like you have the ability to recruit an army of followers whose conduct massively expands the effect of your stalking. That is why I say your stalking is in many respects more serious than a conventional stalker," he added.
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Alex Belfield was sentenced to over 5 years in jail for stalking Jeremy Vine (PA)
Jeremy Vine said Belfield's actions left him concerned for his safety (PA)Belfield claimed that Vine “publicly and repeatedly lied about his knowledge of the circumstances in which the BBC gave him personally £1,000 by way of a donation” for a memorial of his close friend John Myers, who died in 2019.
“It was particularly hurtful and distressing that the defendant’s campaign focused on his honesty in relation to an event arising from the death of his friend,” De Wilde told the High Court.
De Wilde said that Belfield tried to obtain "private information" concerning Vine, including "phone numbers of family and friends" which were "for the purposes of publishing and disclosing that information online." The court was also told that Belfield had encouraged his own fans to contact Vine and go to his home, leaving the 58-year-old presenter concerned for the safety of his family.
In the Nottingham Crown Court, Vine likened the harassment to an "avalanche of hatred" before calling it "absolutely Olympic-level stalking, even for broadcasting".
Belfield's lawyer, Alan Robertshaw, has said his client has now "agreed to pay [Vine] substantial damages, as well as his legal costs, and to give undertakings subject to a penal notice in respect of future publications and conduct concerning [Vine]".
The exact amount of damages to be paid by Belfield to Vine has not been disclosed.
Robertshaw went on to say Belfield "wishes to apologise unreservedly for the damage and distress caused to [Vine] and his reputation by his publications and express his profound and unreserved regret for all of the harm for which he is responsible." He also said that the local DJ "never had any basis at all to make the false allegations of dishonesty against (Vine) for which he was responsible, and nor was there any justification for his harassment."