Emily? She was sexually attracted to ME, claims jailed stalker
A STALKER who subjected Emily Maitlis to a 25-year ordeal was jailed yesterday – after saying the BBC presenter was in denial about a ‘physical and sexual attraction’ to him.
Edward Vines, 46, was convicted of breaching a restraining order banning him from contacting the Newsnight presenter and her family but said she was to blame because she belittled him while they were at university together.
Vines, who appeared at Oxford Crown Court flanked by nurses from a psychiatric hospital where he is a patient, said he breached the order because Miss Maitlis ‘owed’ him an explanation for
‘Belittling attitude’
ending their friendship while at Cambridge University in the 1990s.
The court heard that the 46-year-old presenter and Vines met as first-year students at Queens’ College, Cambridge in 1989. Vines told the jury they exchanged letters and he quickly fell in love with Miss Maitlis but was left ‘despondent’ when she rejected his advances.
‘She appeared to not to want to see me,’ he said. ‘She occasionally put me down in small ways, but nonetheless hurtful ways. Some days I would sink into a slump of despondency in relation to the scorn and belittling attitude I believe she has shown me.’
Vines has been in and out of court since 2002 for multiple breaches of a restraining order banning him from contacting Miss Maitlis.
Last year, he sent several letters to the mother of two at BBC Broadcasting House, as well as bombarding her mother Marion, 83, a psychotherapist, with emails and letters.
But he denied two counts of breaching a restraining order imposed in 2009. Vines claimed he had a ‘reasonable excuse’ to contact Miss Maitlis after his requests for an explanation for her breaking off their relationship were ignored.
He told the jury: ‘She owes me more than she has offered in terms of explaining her cruel and unkind behaviour.’
After being convicted yesterday, Vines sacked his defence counsel, before claiming in court that Miss Maitlis was in denial about a ‘ physical and sexual attraction’ to him.
In a victim impact statement read to court, the TV presenter described feeling ‘sick to her stomach’ when she was told by BBC security that Vines had breached his bail conditions in February.
Vines was jailed for 18 months for each charge, to run concurrently, as well as a further 18 months for two outstanding breaches to which he had pleaded guilty.
Judge Peter Ross told Vines he had a ‘couple delusion’ with regards to a relationship with Miss Maitlis. He added: ‘You have known for 25 years that this woman wants nothing to do with you.’