A former BBC Leeds host has been recalled to prison for breaking the terms of his early release, after he was sentenced to five and a half years for stalking Jeremy Vine
A former BBC radio star has been called back to jail for breaching his early release licence conditions after going to prison for stalking Jeremy Vine. Alex Belfield was released from prison last year, only a three years into his five and a half year sentence.
Belfield was jailed in September 2022 for causing alarm and distress to two victims and for stalking another two, one of which was BBC presenter Jeremy Vine, while another was BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernard Spedding. He was released in 2025, but on March 26, 2026, the Prison and Probation Service confirmed he had been recalled to prison.
READ MORE: Jeremy Vine shares biggest concern as convicted stalker Alex Belfield set for releaseREAD MORE: Jeremy Vine’s secret punk band past that even saw him in Smash Hits music magazine
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The man, dubbed as the “Jimmy Savile of trolling” by Jeremy during the trial, was recalled for breaching his licence conditions. These are the rules put in place for those being released from jail before their full sentence has been served. The Prison and Probation Service did not share how Belfield had breached the conditions.
A spokesperson for the Prison and Probation Service said: “As this case shows, we do not hesitate to send offenders back to prison if they break the rules.”
Before Belfield was released, Vine shared concern about what happen after he left prison. Belfied had harassed and trolled Vine on X, and claimed that Vine had stolen money from a friend’s memorial fund. The former DJ also emailed Vine and harassed him via YouTube, where he set up a channel titled Alex Belfield – The Voice of Reason.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Vine said: “I expect he will set up again as ‘The Voice of Reason’. He’ll have his little merry band of followers.” He added that his experience with Belfield inspired the plot of one of his thrillers about a talkshow host who becomes a detective as he investigates the deaths of his listeners. He said Belfield “must have” inspired the book, as it was “the idea that someone can reach you through your screen”.
In 2022, Belfield was convicted of four charges committed between 2012 and 2021. As part of his sentence, restraining orders were put in place to ban him from contacting his victims. In January this year, he said in an interview with Liam Tuffs, a podcaster, that he had been made the subject of a “court order that we cannot cross”.
Vine shared after sentencing that his daughters were terrified of Belfield and didn’t want to leave the house. “My youngest daughter was 13 then and she burst into tears when I told her there may be somebody who wants to hurt her.
“He doesn’t even know my daughter’s name, but she’s one of his victims.” Vine went on to say that it took a year before his young daughter could build up the confidence to leave the house again.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. You can call the national stalking helpline on 0808 802 0300 or find more information here.
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