Stalker admits sending letters to BBC’s Emily
A STALKER jailed after harassing Newsnight host Emily Maitlis has admitted breaching a restraining order.
Edward Vines, 49, described as having a “long-term fixation” with the BBC presenter, twice attempted to send the presenter a letter via her mother, a court heard.
Vines was jailed for 45 months on January 18, 2018, for continuing to breach an earlier restraining order by writing to Ms Maitlis from prison and from his bail hostel.
He had been stalking Ms Maitlis for more than 25 years after meeting her at Cambridge University in the 1990s, and has continued to contact her from prison. After a court hearing in September, where he denied sending a letter to Marion Maitlis, Vines then sent a second letter to the presenter’s mother on October 6. The defendant was due to face a two-day trial next month before entering guilty pleas. In a previous hearing, where Vines represented himself, he asked whether could call Ms Maitlis a witness.
Yesterday he appeared via video link from prison at Nottingham Crown Court where he admitted sending both letters. The judge described him as having a “long-term fixation” with Ms Maitlis, 49.
Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said it was “not clear to the court what his present mental state is” as he adjourned Vines’s sentencing hearing.
He added that “one of the things the court has got to consider is the risk of re-offending”.
Judge Rafferty remanded Vines back into custody and adjourned his sentence until February 3 at the same court.
In 2018, Ms Maitlis told how Vines’s years of harassment had upset her husband, scared her children and affected her work. he as