A MAN "obsessed" with a BBC journalist has gone on trial after allegedly breaching his restraining order banning him from contacting her.

Edward Vines denies sending letters to Emily Maitlis, as well as sending letters and emails to her mother Marion.

It is alleged the 46-year-old breached a restraining order handed to him by Oxford Crown Court in January 2009, forbidding him from contacting Ms Maitlis and her family.

The defendant, who was wearing a blue and white stripped shirt, was accompanied in the dock at Oxford Crown Court by nurses from a hospital he is at.

Opening the case this afternoon, prosecutor Julian Lynch said Vines developed an "obsession" with the journalist after falling in love with her while they both studied at Cambridge University in the 1990s.

Vines, of Grosvenor Road, Oxford, denies two counts of acting in breach of a restraining order between May 10 and June 26, 2015.

The trial continues.