Obsessed stalker Edward Vines was described as having a "tortured pre-occupation" with former BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis as he was jailed for eight years. Vines, who represented himself in court, has an obsession with her which he has been unable to escape, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
Vines met Maitlis at university in the 1990s and had spent three decades living with a fixation for Maitlis, who declined, with her mother, to provide victim impact statements to the court on Monday (September 5) as he was sentenced.
Vines, who is banned from contacting Maitlis or her mother, learned his fate on eight charges, all which had received unanimous verdicts from a jury in July for attempting to breach a restraining order. The first charge was the 14th time he had breached the restraining order.
READ MORE: Emily Maitlis stalker jailed over restraining order breach
Judge Mark Watson was satisfied the appropriate sentence was outside the guidelines for this time of offending, following a background of breaching the order over many, many years. "I take account of your current and enduring attitude towards the order - you have made it plain you will not stop your efforts to speak to Emily Maitlis," added the judge.
Vines does not accept the order and, the only thing stopping him from contacting Maitlis, is the protection given by his continued imprisonment. There is no evidence Vines, of HMP Nottingham, presents a risk of physical harm to the journalist or her family - but his constant refusal to accept she wants nothing to do with him was evident in her and her mother's refusal to give a victim impact statement.
The judge referred to the type of offending which, he said, can having some inevitable consequences for those on the receiving end. "It is an inescapable fear because the only thing preventing you contacting her is a prison sentence where your efforts can be thwarted by others".
Vines' letters were intercepted by the prison and were "outpourings of emotion on your part," added the judge. Vines, who has endured incidents of psychosis, had written eight letters addressed to Ms Maitlis and her mother expressing his “unrequited” love for her, which he tried to send from HMP Nottingham between May 2020 and December 2021.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that, in one of his letters to the journalist, Vines had told her he would “continue to brood and to write letters in prison”, unless she spoke to him about “her behaviour in 1990”.
Jurors took just under two hours to accept the prosecution’s case after they were told he “systematically and with increasing frequency” breached two separate restraining orders imposed on him in 2002 and 2009 – with 12 previous breaches to his name and seven separate prosecutions.
Vines previously stood trial in October last year, and after proceedings were halted due to medical issues he wrote two further letters in which he attempted to blame the journalist for not admitting to being “attracted to him”.
What the jury heard
In his prosecution opening, Mr Way had said: “This case has a long and unhappy history. For a period in excess of three decades, the defendant has demonstrated a persistent and obsessive fixation with the BBC journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis, whom he met at university in the 1990s.
“His compulsive behaviour towards her resulted in a conviction against him before the West London Magistrates’ Court on September 19 2002 for pursuing a course of conduct which amounted to harassment.”
Mr Way continued: “His persistent behaviour towards her resulted in a conviction against him. That resulted in the first of two restraining orders imposed against him. Since that time he has, the prosecution assert, systematically, and with increasing frequency, attempted to breach that order. He can’t let go of something that he perceived was a wrong to him 30 years in the past and that, we say, is what is driving him.”
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