A ‘PERSISTENT and obsessive’ stalker who has harassed BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis for more than 25 years is continuing to write her letters from prison, a court has heard.
Edward Vines, previously of Grosvenor Road, Oxford, is alleged to have attempted to breach a restraining order against Ms Maitlis six further times between May 31, 2020, and September 21 this year.
Vines was jailed for 45 months in January 2018 after Oxford Crown Court heard how he breached a restraining order by writing multiple letters to Ms Maitlis from prison and his bail hostel.
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Now, he has continued his correspondence from prison, expressing his ‘unrequited love’ for the TV presenter, Nottingham Crown Court heard. He told the 51-year-old he would ‘continue to brood and to write letters in prison’, unless she spoke to him about her ‘behaviour in 1990’.
Vines met and briefly became friends with Ms Maitlis when they were both students at Cambridge University in the mid-1990s.
He was first issued with a restraining order against her in 2002 after he was convicted of harassing her.
Jurors were told Vines breached two separate restraining orders imposed on him – the one in 2002 and a further order imposed at Oxford Crown Court in 2009.
The court heard six letters written to Ms Maitlis and her mother were intercepted by staff at HMP Nottingham.
Speaking of one letter dated June 2 last year, prosecutor Ian Way told the court: “The letter began by saying that the defendant wished to address issues between himself and Emily Maitlis.
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“(A prison staff member) immediately put the letter to one side and the police were notified.
“The defendant was charged with the above matter and the proceedings were commenced.”
The court heard that another letter, dated December 5 last year, ‘comprised six pages of hand-written text’.
Mr Way said: “The defendant continued to dispute that his conduct amounted to harassment and questioned why he had been convicted.
“He stressed that he felt that the complainant owed him a response to his previously asked questions as to what had happened between them at university in 1990.
“He expressed his unrequited love for her and criticised her for not responding to his constant questioning.
“He accused her of lying about him in a statement which had resulted in everyone taking her side to his detriment, stating that he had been badly represented in the past and could not appeal as a result.”
The court heard that a separate two-page letter began with the comment: “You still have not spoken to me about your behaviour in 1990 and you lied to the police about it.”
Vines denies all six charges.
The trial continues.
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