Emily Maitlis stalker Edward Vines admits sending letters to her mother to pass on to the journalist

The stalker targeted BBC presenter Emily Maitlis
PA
Jacob Jarvis16 January 2020
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A stalker who tormented Newsnight's Emily Maitlis for 25 years has admitted sending letters to her mother in a bid to contact her.

Edward Vines admitted attempting to breach a restraining order today, after twice sending correspondence to her mother to pass on to her.

The defendant, 49. had previously pleaded not guilty to breaching a restraining order imposed on him at Oxford Crown Court in 2009 for harassing the BBC journalist.

Since that hearing in September last year, Vines attempted to write another letter to Ms Maitlis's mother, Marion Maitlis, on October 6.

This followed his first letter to her between May 7 and May 16.

Vines, who appeared in the Nottingham Crown Court hearing via video link from HMP Nottingham.

Vines was jailed for 45 months on January 18, 2018, for continuing to breach his restraining order by writing to Ms Maitlis from prison and his bail hostel.

He met and briefly became friends with the Newsnight presenter when they were both students at Cambridge University in the mid-1990s.

In 2018, Ms Maitlis said Vines's unwanted attention was upsetting her husband, scaring her children and affecting her work.

The defendant was due to face a two-day trial next month before entering the guilty pleas and in the previous hearing, where Vines represented himself, he even asked whether he would be able to call Ms Maitlis as a witness in his trial.

At his sentencing hearing in 2018, Judge Peter Ross demanded written explanations from both the probation service and the governor at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire as to how Vines was able to continue offending.

The judge added that "one of the things the court has got to consider is the risk of re-offending".

Judge Rafferty remanded Vines back into custody and adjourned his sentence until February 3 at the same court.

Reporting by PA.

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