Belfield claimed station ‘refused’ to mention 2017 terrorist attack
ALLEGED stalker Alex Belfield accused a radio station of refusing to mention the 2017 Manchester bomb attack, and copied in celebrities Noel Edmonds and Joe Pasquale.
An email appeared to refer to BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith’s show – which was on air shortly after the bombing as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American singer Ariana Grande.
The email was sent to Mr Keith, also known as Bernard Spedding and, among others, the Directorgeneral of the BBC, and with the subject headline “22 dead or bedding plants”.
It alleged that, while the rest of the world was reeling from the terrorist attack, BBC Radio Northampton refused to mention it.
Mr Keith’s show had been on that morning but, he said, there was always news and a reflection of events people were talking about. “It [the bombing] would have been covered extensively on the breakfast show.”
Mr Keith, who gave his evidence from behind a curtained screen in the witness box, told the jury at Belfield’s trial that he had opened his show by referring to a “terrible, terrible event” and explained how he was as shocked as anyone else by those events.
“The very idea that I would go on and refuse to talk about it is deeply, deeply offensive to me,” he said.
Yesterday, he recalled in court that items on the show that day had included, “how do I stop rabbits from eating my bedding plants”. He said he was praised by the station editor afterwards, who said he “hit the right tone”.
Belfield denies stalking Mr Keith, the stalking of Jeremy Vine, who works for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5, and now EX-BBC presenter Stephanie Hirst, who transitioned from male to female in 2014, and other individuals.
Belfield, 42, of Shaldon Close in Mapperley, pleads not guilty to eight counts of stalking from 2012 to 2021. Three counts of stalking relate to Belfield’s time at BBC Radio Leeds, on a fixed-term contract that ran for one year from spring 2010 to spring 2011. Belfield’s contract was not renewed and he left the BBC in 2011, starting his Youtube channel.
Mr Keith, who has worked in radio since 1987, started his career in Coventry, later working in South Wales, Hampshire, Dorset, and Century 106 radio in Nottingham, which is where he met a teenage Belfield.
At the time Belfield answered the phones and put calls through to presenters from a control room.
Years later, Belfield got in touch with Mr Keith.
By then Belfield was working at London’s Capital Gold and they met up.
Mr Keith was to later suggest him for a job at a friend’s radio station in South Wales, called Scarlet FM.
Belfield got the job on the breakfast show but Mr Keith did not know how long he remained there.
Mr Keith, by then at BBC Radio Northampton, learned that a manager at the station had received a communication concerning a letter asking for her and her immediate boss to attend a hearing that Belfield had brought against the BBC. Mr Keith said his understanding was that whatever hearing Belfield was having it was to show he was being victimised, while Mr Keith was allegedly being given preferential treatment.
Mr Keith then emailed Belfield from home expressing his dissatisfaction and wished him well. This was after Belfield left job at BBC Radio Leeds.
Belfield allegedly went on to complain to the BBC that Mr Keith was advertising non-bbc work and thus being allowed to profit out of his show – even though Mr Keith had permission from the BBC to mention his other work. He made insults about his character and sent emails to the BBC, including the “22 dead or bedding plants”.
The trial continues