A stalker who has had a three-decade fixation with former BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has been jailed for eight years after attempting to breach a restraining order for the 20th time.
Edward Vines wrote eight letters addressed to Maitlis and her mother expressing his 'unrequited' love for her, which he tried to send from HMP Nottingham between May 2020 and December 2021. A judge at Nottingham Crown Court told the 52-year-old he had shown 'breathtaking persistence' in his efforts to contact his victim, saying it was clear he saw the restraining order as 'meaningless'.
Jurors were told that Vines had 'systematically and with increasing frequency' breached two separate restraining orders imposed in 2002 and 2009, with 12 breaches to his name and seven separate prosecutions. In one letter, he told the journalist he would 'continue to brood and to write letters in prison' unless she spoke to him about 'her behaviour' while they were at Cambridge University together in 1990.
After a trial was halted last October due to medical issues, he wrote two further letters attempting to blame Maitlis for not admitting to being 'attracted to him'. He denied eight counts of attempting to breach a restraining order but was unanimously convicted by a jury.
Prosecutor Ian Way spoke of the defendant's 'insatiable desire' to speak with the broadcaster, with Vines admitting he would send letters if freed. Judge Mark Watson said Vines remained 'undeterred' and that the order was 'meaningless' to him, adding: 'It is an obsession from which you have been unable to escape.' Maitlis and her mother declined to give a victim impact statement.
