A serial stalker who sent letters to broadcaster Emily Maitlis and her parents from behind bars was jailed this morning for five years.
A jury was told how Edward Vines wrote a series of letters to the journalist, and her elderly parents Peter and Marion, from prison, where he was serving an eight-year sentence for previous contraventions of an order banning him from contact.
Vines – who had briefly become friends with Ms Maitlis while they were both students at Cambridge University in 1990 – was described by a judge as being ‘tortured without release’ by an ‘obsession’ with the former BBC Newsnight host which has seen him repeatedly hauled to court.
Judge Mark Watson said Vines, 55, had shown ‘utter comptempt’ for the latest restraining order imposed on him.
He added: ‘It is a tragedy that I once again have to deal with Mr Vines for breaching the restraining order imposed to stop him having contact with Emily Maitlis and her family.
‘The only way to deter him from further offending is to send to him a message that longer sentences will follow.
‘Furthermore, he has made it clear he will not stop. He told the jury that weeks before the trial he had sent Marion Maitlis a letter.
‘To quote his evidence, he ‘does not give a hoot’ about the restraining order.
In one letter to The News Agents host Emily Maitlis, pictured, Edward Vines claimed he was ‘still distraught’ about the breakdown of their university friendship
Edward Vines was found guilty of breaching a restraining order not to contact the former BBC Newsnight host or her parents Marion and Peter Maitlis
‘The overall effects of his efforts have been profound.’
Before reading a harrowing victim impact statement from Ms Maitlis, prosecutor Fergus Malone said Vines had ‘demonstrated a persistent and enduring obsession, which has been never-ending’.
In the statement, Ms Maitlis – who now co-hosts The News Agents podcast – said: ‘For over 30 years I have been living with the consequences of harassment and the unwanted attention of this individual.
‘I am worried whenever this comes to trial as it reminds me of the whole experience again, especially when he cross-examined me in a previous case.’
She described how her husband once opened the door of her home to find Vines there – with the couples’ children subsequently having to be escorted to their school bus stop by a police officer.
Ms Maitlis added: ‘The idea that he might be bailed is deeply worrying and I would be very concerned for my safety and the safety of my family.’
Vines denied three breaches of a restraining order, imposed in 2022, as well as an attempted breach in which he asked his brother to contact 92-year-old Marion Maitlis.
The court heard he penned a total of 24 letters over a 10-month period between May 2023 and February 2024.
Ms Maitlis, pictured at an awards event in December, has been the subject of Vines’ three-decade long fixation
Ms Maitlis has said she felt ’empathy’ for Vines because he is suffering from an ‘obsessional illness’
Vines, who represented himself, was found guilty last month after a jury at Nottingham Crown Court took less than an hour to unanimously convict him.
The trial was told how the prisoner addressed letters to Ms Maitlis and her parents, including claims she had been ‘scornful’ to him during their friendship at university.
Jurors were told that in a letter written to Ms Maitlis, the defendant claimed he ‘regularly’ suffers depression because their friendship ended, and has done for 30 years.
The court heard how the defendant sent envelopes, sometimes containing more than one letter, addressed to the trio, which were intercepted by prison staff at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire.
Vines was later arrested and interviewed – but still went on to send further letters.
Mr Malone read aloud letters to the court, posted by Vines through the prison mailing system, which included him saying he was ‘distraught’ about the friendship ending, three months after he told Ms Maitlis he loved her, during their time at university.
In July 2023 Vines wrote: ‘I took the audacity of writing to you despite the restraining order because I’m still distraught about what took place between us in 1990.
‘I regularly suffer depression over it and have for 30 years. I admit I’m not sure why I suffer so, but suffer I do.’
HMP Lowdham Grange, Nottinghamshire, from where Vines wrote to Ms Maitliss and her parents
Ms Maitliss and husband Mark Gwynne
In a letter addressed to Ms Maitlis’s mother in May of that year, Vines had described Ms Maitlis as ‘offish and scornful’, the trial heard.
When the case returned to Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing today, Vines refused to attend from prison.
Mr Malone said he had 13 previous convictions for 28 previous offences involving the Maitlis family dating back to 2002.
On that occasion, he was convicted of harassment and the first of several subsequent restraining orders was imposed. Since then, he has been repeatedly prosecuted for breaching them.
Judge Watson said he had considered whether Vines may have a persistent delusional disorder, and had suffered episodes of psychosis since 2003, being treated both as an inpatient and while in custody.
But he said the defendant was capable of making rational decisions and understanding the consequences of his actions.
The judge added: ‘Mr Vines is a very bright and articulate man.
‘He could have been many things. His obsession with Emily Maitlis has tortured him without release.
‘He has wasted more than two decades of his life and will now waste more in custody.’
The latest restraining order was put in place in September 2022 when Vines was jailed for eight years for attempting to breach a previous restraining order for the 20th time.
On that occasion Judge Watson described him as having a ‘tortured pre-occupation’ with former BBC Newsnight presenter and ‘an obsession’ with her which he has been unable to escape.
Judge Watson said Vines’ latest sentence would run consecutively to the eight-year term he is currently serving.
Other celebrities who have suffered from stalkers in recent years include actress Claire Foy, broadcaster Isla Traquair and radio and TV star Jeremy Vine.
Vines had briefly become friends with Ms Maitlis while they were both students at Cambridge University in 1989
Ms Maitlis conducted the infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew which led to the Duke of York stepping back from official public duties after being criticised for his unsympathetic tone and lack of remorse about his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Last year she said she felt ’empathy’ for Vines because he is suffering from an ‘obsessional illness’.
She has also said that stalking needs to be renamed as it is too closely associated with glamour and celebrities, rather than mental health.
Ms Maitlis said we should re-frame how we look at such criminal behaviour and see it as an ‘obsessional illness’.
Speaking on the Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast, she said: ‘Look, I think of (Edward Vines) as having kind of lost his whole life over this, quite frankly.
‘Of course I feel, I feel empathetic to that.
‘I think the trouble with stalking is that in our heads it sounds sort of celebrity related or glamorous – sort of dark streets and high heels – and most stalking has nothing to do with that.
‘It’s just to do with an obsessional illness in the head of the person and actually we’re getting much better at recognising mental health and all its myriad forms now.’
News Agents presenters Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall pictured at a podcast event in London two years ago
Ms Maitlis said she does not like the use of the word stalking, in general, and said it was time to consider a different term that focuses it being a medical illness.
She explained: ‘And I think we’ve got to find a different word for stalking, which is much more to do with his brain (not) working properly.
‘I know that you don’t just need a prison system. You need a psychiatric system.’
Ms Maitlis has previously told how Vines’ fixation with her has affected her relationship with husband Mark Gwynne.
Ms Maitlis said: ‘It has affected my relationship with my husband who is frustrated we cannot get to the bottom of the problem even though we have been tackling it through the courts and CPS for over twenty years and it has scared my children who thought the threat had gone way – albeit temporarily while he was behind bars.’
