Accused stalker ‘targeted victim’s pregnant wife’ in bid to obtain ‘malicious’ email
COURT TOLD EX-BBC PRESENTER OBTAINED PICTURE OF BABY SCAN HE USED IN ‘THREATENING’ PLOT
ONE of eight victims of alleged stalker Alex Belfield told a jury the accused had tried to add his pregnant wife on Facebook and included a picture of their baby scan.
Videographer Ben Hewis was copied in on various emails from EX-BBC Radio Leeds presenter Belfield, which were “constant”, and included accusations that Mr Hewis had refused to release an email he had published, without the author’s name, about Belfield.
It dated back to 2019 when one of Belfield’s alleged victims had contacted Mr Hewis – who was upset by some of his comments, telling Mr Hewis: “I don’t like seeing him make other people miserable – he’s really not worth it. He’s nothing. So I would ignore him and block his work.” They added: “Please don’t attach my name to it in any form.”
The court was told that Belfield went on to threaten legal action over the comments made after they were shared on Twitter, labelling it as an “unprovoked character assassination”. The prosecution, however, argues that there is no evidence Belfield ever contacted lawyers over the incident.
Mr Hewis contacted police himself and asked them if they needed him to send the email and they said, “no”.
He denied he had ever “trolled” Belfield, 42, of Shaldon Close in Mapperley, who pleads not guilty to eight counts of stalking eight different people between 2012 and 2021.
Belfield told police he was the subject of a witch hunt, a thorn in the BBC’S side and that he was not guilty of any of the allegations against him.
The prosecution claims Mr Hewis’ pregnant wife was contacted by Belfield, who tried to tell her that her husband was ignoring calls from Nottinghamshire Police and what he had been put through was “indescribable” – adding a photo of a scan of their unborn child as an attachment with the message.
Mr Hewis had earlier received an email with the same scan attached.
The scan had Mr Hewis’s wife’s name on.
The email went on to claim Belfield was now taking a harassment case against Mr Hewis and, “we will go via your wife to access you”, claiming: “We now have your home address after you identified your location.”
The image of the scan had been shared by the couple online, which is where Belfield is alleged to have taken it from, according to Mr Hewis.
Mr Hewis, who did not work for the BBC, said Belfield had then tried to add his wife on Facebook. He was sitting with his wife when she asked “Who is Alex Belfield?” and he told the jury: “I think the blood drained from my face at the time. I said, ‘I don’t know.’”
His wife went to the toilet and he quickly deleted the message with the baby scan which was “basically threatening; saying he is not going away, if we didn’t release the email...’i will go to court, you will lose everything. I don’t know how your husband sleeps at night,’ something like that”.
Mr Hewis took a photo of the message with his phone and deleted it. The message had reiterated endlessly that if Mr Hewis sent the original email, “I will drop the charges”. Mr Hewis had not told his wife about Belfield at that stage but told her after their baby was born. He reported Belfield to police one month after the birth.
He was also asked by the prosecution about one email, which appeared to only refer to broadcaster Bernard Spedding, also known as Bernie Keith, but Mr Hewis was copied in. He told the Nottingham Crown Court jury on Monday that the emails were “constant” and they felt like they were daily, even if there were a few days in between.
“I felt they never stopped,” he added from the witness stand. “I felt like that was his intention, copying me in. It was constantly on my mind and a part of my everyday life at that point”. The trial continues
“We will go via your wife to access you” ... “We now have your home address after you identified your location” Belfield email