Jeremy Vine says YouTube and Twitter have 'no moral values'

Jeremy Vine says YouTube and Twitter have ‘no moral values’ after BBC stalker Alex Belfield used them to torment him

• Jeremy Vine has said that companies YouTube and Twitter have ‘no moral values’
• BBC stalker Alex Belfield used them to torment figures from broadcasting world
• The former BBC local radio presenter has been jailed for five years and 26 weeks 

Jeremy Vine has said that YouTube and Twitter have ‘no moral values’ after BBC stalker Alex Belfield used them to torment him.

Belfield, 42, was last month found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court of waging a campaign against a number of figures from the broadcasting world, including Mr Vine.

On Friday the former BBC local radio presenter was jailed for five years and 26 weeks.

Jurors accepted he caused serious alarm or distress to two victims and found him guilty of ‘simple’ stalking in relation to Channel 5 and BBC Radio 2 presenter Mr Vine and theatre blogger Philip Dehany.

Jeremy Vine (pictured) has said that YouTube and Twitter have ‘no moral values’ after BBC stalker Alex Belfield used them to torment him

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Mr Vine criticised social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter, saying: ‘We had to get lawyers to get his sh** taken down, and even then it’s hard.

‘The companies just say no. They don’t have any moral values.’

Mr Vine said stalking is common for broadcasters.

He added: ‘Of my three best female friends at the BBC, all of them have had stalkers.

‘I think stalking is the industrial disease of broadcasting.’

Speaking about feeling more cautious about interacting with listeners online, he said: ‘I love hearing from them, but (Belfield) has poisoned it.

‘The lagoon has been turned black.’

Jurors convicted Belfield of four charges committed between 2012 and 2021.

On Friday, Belfield, 42, was jailed for five years and 26 weeks after being convicted of four charges committed between 2012 and 2021. Pictured outside Nottingham Crown Court in July

During sentencing, Mr Justice Saini told him: ‘Your offences are so serious only a custodial sentence can be justified.’

Belfield, who has 359,000 followers on his YouTube channel, The Voice Of Reason, and 43,000 on Twitter, directed his attacks via social media ‘in highly negative and often abusive terms’, the judge said.

As well as jailing Belfield, Mr Justice Saini issued indefinite restraining orders banning him from contacting his victims.

YouTube and Twitter have been contacted for comment.

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