By Sammie Jones-
A Former Student friend of Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, who harassed her for two decades, has been jailed for contacting her from prison.
Edward Vines, 47, breached a restraining order by writing to the BBC journalist while he was behind bars and later out on license.
Judge Peter Ross sentenced Vines to 45 months for repeating contact which amounted to “psychological torture”.
Ms Maitlis said she had been left “jumpy around strangers”.
Former Student
The presenter had first met Vines from Oxford when they were students at Cambridge University and was convicted of harassment in 2002.
He was first convicted of harassment in 2002.
As well as contacting her in prison, Vines wrote again when he was living in a bail hostel and subject to license conditions.
Judge Ross described this as “wholly unsatisfactory” and gave the Probation Service and the governor at HMP Bullingdon 10 days for a written explanation.
Ms Maitlis said she had felt “scared and let down” after she heard Vines had breached the restraining order “even from within the prison system”.
She said it had affected her relationship with her husband, and scared her children, “who thought the threats had gone away… while he was behind bars”. Vines is obviously an obsessed man, which is strange for one who attended a prestigious University like Oxford. He must have besotted with Maitlis whose University education has earned her a successful career whilst Vines ended up in jail amongst the failures of society.
DAMAGE
Maitlis said her ability to lead a normal life had been damaged by Vines, whom the BBC presenter clearly would have preferred to leave in her past. His obsession with her must have been daunting and scary. In a statement read out to Oxford Crown Court, the presenter said:
“It has affected my ability to do my work, what time I feel able to come home at night (I work late nights often). It also makes me jumpy around strangers for no reason as I fear any advance might be him,” she wrote.
“Altogether the breach has been a reminder for me that this man remains a constant threat in my life and my family’s life and that my ability to do my work, hang out with my children and lead a normal family life without constant sense of suspicion and fear has been badly damaged.”
Ms Maitlis said her husband had been left “frustrated that we cannot get to the bottom of this problem even though we have been tackling it through the CPS and the court for over 20 years”.
Vines’s sentencing was delayed after his application to alter his plea was refused by the court.
At the time, his lawyer, Michael Gould, told the court he could no longer represent his client as he had been “professionally embarrassed”..