Emily Maitlis’ stalker is told he faces a long prison sentence after he was found guilty of breaching restraining order from INSIDE jail and for the TWENTIEH time – 30 years after ‘she snubbed him at Oxford University’
- Edward Vines, 52, wrote eight letters to Ms Maitlis and her family while in prison
- The letters were intercepted by guards between May 2020 and December 2021
- Vines is serving a sentence for breaching his restraining orders from 2020
- The judge adjourned the case in Nottingham for sentencing until September 5
- Ms Maitlis has previously said how she feels let down by the British legal system
- Vines has been seemingly undeterred in stalking Ms Maitlis by his convictions
An ‘obsessed’ stalker with thirty-year fixation on Emily Maitlis has been found guilty of attempting to breach a restraining order for the 20th time.
Edward Vines, 52, wrote eight letters addressed to Ms Maitlis and her mother expressing his ‘unrequited’ love for her from HMP Nottingham which were intercepted by guards between May 2020 and December 2021.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that Mr Vines told Ms Maitlis he would ‘continue to brood and to write letters in prison’, unless she spoke to him about ‘her behaviour in 1990’.
Jurors took just under two hours to accept the prosecution’s case after they were told he ‘systematically and with increasing frequency’ breached two separate restraining orders imposed on him in 2002 and 2009 – with 12 previous breaches to his name and seven separate prosecutions.
Vines previously stood trial in October last year, and after proceedings were halted due to medical issues he wrote two further letters in which he attempted to blame the journalist for not admitting to being ‘attracted to him’.
As the verdicts were returned on Monday, the defendant showed no emotion and looked straight ahead before being taken away by prison officers.
Edward Vines, pictured, denies writing eight letters to journalist Emily Maitlis while in prison serving a prison sentence for breaching an order preventing him from contacting the former BBC star
Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis said that being stalked for more than 20 years by Edward Vines (right) affected her marriage with husband Mark Gwynne (left)
He had denied all eight charges.
Ms Maitlis interviewed the Duke of York in 2020, which led to Andrew stepping back from official public duties after criticism over his unsympathetic tone and lack of remorse about his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A jury panel of seven women and five men rejected Vines’s claims that he never intended the letters to reach the Maitlis family after he told the court he wanted a jury to see the letters ‘so that they can hear my views and that Emily owes me an apology’.
Vines had told the court he was trying to ‘perfect the art of letter writing’ and that he wanted to ‘have that moment so we can finish this war’.
Vines, 51, met Emily Maitlis, pictured, while they were at Cambridge University. Though in 2009, Ms Maitlis was forced to seek a court order preventing Vines from contacting her
Prison staff at HMP Nottingham, pictured, intercepted letters from Vines to Ms Maitlis and her family between May 2020 and December 2021
Vines was jailed in 2016 for three years at Oxford Crown Court for breaching an order initially imposed after he was convicted in 2002 (pictured during that year) of harassing Ms Maitlis where he was jailed for four months
VINES’ 27 YEAR STALKING CAMPAIGN
1989 – Edward Vines first met Emily Maitlis when they were both students at Cambridge University
1990 – Vines believed Ms Maitlis had acted ‘scornfully’ towards him after he had told her he was in love with her and had a ‘sexual attraction’ to her while they were studying
2002 – He was convicted of harassment after Ms Maitlis contacted police about his erratic behaviour following the murder of her fellow broadcaster Jill Dando
2009 – After Vines continued trying to contact Maitlis, he was given the restraining order
2015 – He breached the order by sending two letters to the journalist and emails and letters to her mother, Marion Maitlis
2016 – He was jailed for three years for breaching a restraining order preventing him from contacting her
However he sent her a letter from his prison cell, as well as a second letter while out on licence and under the supervision of probation services
2018 – Vines is jailed by a judge at Oxford Crown Court for 45 months after admitting two breaches of an indefinite restraining order
Ms Maitlis reveals the ordeal to the public, saying she felt let down by the criminal justice system
2020 & 2021 – Vines has letters intended for Ms Maitlis and her mother intercepted by guards at HMP Nottingham
2022 – Vines is found guilty of breaching his restraining orders for the 20th time after writing letters from his prison cell
Prosecutor Ian Way spoke of the defendant’s ‘insatiable desire’ to speak with the BBC presenter while he was giving evidence – with Vines admitting he would send letters to her if he was freed from prison.
Jurors were also told of how Vines had breached the restraining order on 12 previous occasions – including letters and emails addressed to Ms Maitlis at the BBC.
For the final two of his previous breaches, Vines was jailed for three years after a judge said he feared there was ‘no sight of this ever ending’ – describing the defendant’s behaviour as a ‘life-long obsession’.
In his prosecution opening, Mr Way said: ‘This case has a long and unhappy history.
‘For a period in excess of three decades, the defendant has demonstrated a persistent and obsessive fixation with the BBC journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis, whom he met at university in the 1990s.
‘His compulsive behaviour towards her resulted in a conviction against him before the West London Magistrates’ Court on September 19 2002 for pursuing a course of conduct which amounted to harassment.’
Mr Way continued: ‘His persistent behaviour towards her resulted in a conviction against him. That resulted in the first of two restraining orders imposed against him.
‘Since that time he has, the prosecution assert, systematically, and with increasing frequency, attempted to breach that order.
‘He can’t let go of something that he perceived was a wrong to him 30 years in the past and that, we say, is what is driving him.’
Adjourning sentence until September 5, Judge Mark Watson told Vines: ‘I’m not going to deal with you now because I want to know what the impact of your repeated efforts to breach this order have been.
‘You can expect to receive a lengthy prison sentence.
‘You have repeatedly told this jury and told others to whom you have spoken, that your intention is to continue to attempt to contact Emily Maitlis.
‘Until (the sentencing hearing) Mr Vines, you will remain in custody.’
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