‘Jimmy Savile of trolling’ tormented me with vile slurs for years – but the BBC did nothing til he turned on Jeremy Vine
HANDS trembling, Liz Green opened the email.
Across the screen, the words “transvestite”, “ugly”, “old” and “boring” jumped out as part of a torrent of toxic abuse.
As a BBC Radio Leeds presenter, Liz was used to being trolled.
She knew being in the public eye had a downside.
But the abuse came from a man she once worked with — DJ Alex Belfield, who was also harassing two other women at the station.
She thought bosses at the politically correct Beeb would quickly put a stop to it.
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But Liz claims they did nothing about the prolific bully for years . . . until he targeted TV and radio host Jeremy Vine.
Deranged Belfield was last month jailed for five and a half years after targeting victims with a deluge of sick emails, social media posts and vile YouTube videos.
Jeremy, 57, called him the “Jimmy Savile of trolling” and broke down in court as he described the two-year “avalanche” of hatred unleashed by Belfield and his equally nasty followers, starting in April 2020.
The court heard Jeremy received 5,000 to 10,000 hateful tweets after Belfield made abusive comments about him.
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The Channel 5 host told how he feared an attack from one of Belfield’s followers and even put a picture of the stalker in his hallway in case he called at the family home.
Liz, in her fifties, claims bosses did nothing when Belfield started harassing her and two colleagues in 2012.
She alleges they only took her claims seriously when Belfield started tormenting trans radio DJ Stephanie Hirst in 2017, and only took action after Jeremy was targeted.
She said: “Belfield has been harassing me and colleagues for years and got away with it. But when Jeremy was stalked it was suddenly treated very seriously.
“I don’t hold it against Jeremy, because he has supported us all the way.
“I am certain Belfield wouldn’t have taken it so far if the BBC took action against him right at the start.”
‘TARGET OF HATE’
Liz says the harassment was so bad she contemplated suicide and was prescribed anti-depressants.
She was so scared, she spent £20,000 on security at her Yorkshire home, including metal window shutters, CCTV and a panic button, after Belfield sent emails to her bosses claiming she was transsexual, wore a wig, was “old and fat” and was professionally useless.
Shockingly, it was another three years before the BBC put together a “task force” to tackle Belfield — three months after he started stalking Jeremy Vine.
Liz said: “BBC lawyers told me to ignore his harassment.
“‘It’s just another pile of s**t on the internet’, they said.
“The impression I had was just ‘put up and shut up’. They felt he wasn’t worth acknowledging.
“Every time he posted on the different platforms, I would email them (the BBC).”
She emailed her local managers then eventually contacted the head of the BBC and its regional boss.
Liz said: “I pleaded for help many, many times. Managers would tell me how awful it was, that it was nothing to do with them or they weren’t there at the time.
“I was fobbed off for years. Being a target of hate means you are isolated.
“It was almost impossible to get my employer to see that.”
In YouTube videos seen by The Sun Belfield calls Liz a “dark character”, a “nasty vile old bag” with a “vicious gob” and compares her to a “venomous snake”.
The harassment started after Belfield, 42, of Mapperley, Notts, left Radio Leeds in March 2011.
He had been there less than a year and bosses refused to renew his temporary contract.
It could hardly have come as a surprise. Three months earlier he had been suspended — for just one day — for making “inappropriate” on-air remarks to weather presenter Keeley Donovan, which included references to sleeping naked and wiping down a leather sofa.
Belfield allegedly made crude remarks so near the knuckle that colleagues secretly nicknamed him Belend.
In November 2012 he started sending messages about how “useless” Liz was to her bosses and later launched his YouTube channel, The Voice Of Reason, which he used to post a series of personal attacks on presenters.
‘WEAPONISED THE INTERNET’
The Sun has seen documents from then-BBC Director-General Tony Hall in July 2020 that acknowledged the complaints and revealed the “task force” had been set up to investigate, led by his right-hand man, Ken MacQuarrie.
Liz said of Belfield: “He was vile. Reporting live at a theatre, he once asked two elderly women what their names were and what colour knickers they were wearing.
“He often talked about the size of women’s breasts and watching Babestation on TV.
“He was so awful he earned the nickname Belend among colleagues.
“He could not stay within BBC guidelines of what was acceptable to be broadcast and what could not.
“He was sent on courses — including one led by Jeremy Vine — so he knew what the impartiality and decency rules were.”
Belfield staged his own defence in court, so he was allowed to quiz his victims.
He was convicted of four stalking charges against Jeremy Vine, theatre blogger Philip Dehany, BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith and videographer Ben Hewis.
A jury found him not guilty of stalking Liz and her colleagues — former BBC Head of North Rozina Breen and BBC worker Helen Thomas — for ten years from 2012.
He was also found not guilty of stalking Stephanie Hirst, a former Capital breakfast host who transitioned ten years ago.
The court heard how Stephanie felt his abuse was “sickening, misogynistic and transphobic”.
The judge placed restraining orders on Belfield to stop him contacting all four women.
Mr Justice Saini told Belfield he had “weaponised the internet” and that there was a “substantial risk” he would continue harassing the women.
He said: “Each of them suffered a campaign of harassment by email and social media communications.
“Each of them suffered serious mental health problems arising from Mr Belfield’s conduct . . . abusive emails running into the thousands were sent over about a ten-year period.
“In relation to Ms Hirst there were not as many emails but there were highly offensive and transphobic social media posts and videos.”
Belfield, who styled himself as a defender of BBC morality, reported on his own court case on his YouTube channel.
His videos are still online and he continues to operate a Twitter account.
Jeremy Vine said on Newsnight that he had been left “broken” to find that social media firms do not seem to care about such content.
Last night a BBC spokesman said: “We know this has been very difficult for those involved and we continue to provide support to current and former staff.
“We also want to learn from this to ensure we offer the best possible support to all colleagues, who may sadly experience the threat and risks of online stalking in the future.”
‘Abuse was like noose on my neck’
BELFIELD started harassing BBC Leeds bosses Rozina Breen and Helen Thomas around the same time as Liz Green in November 2012.
Ex-BBC Head of North Rozina, who gave Belfield his morning show job, told Nottingham Crown Court he wrongly blamed her for ruining his career.
She described his haranguing as being “like a noose around my neck that every now and again tightens when he wants me to know he is still there”.
Helen, now BBC Director England, was sent hundreds of abusive emails and was the subject of cruel rants on Belfield’s YouTube channel.
In 2017 Belfield targeted presenter Stephanie Hirst, just before she joined Radio Leeds.
He also made a transphobic video about the former Radio Manchester staffer after she gave an interview about her transition to Pink News.
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He also stalked theatre blogger Philip Dehaney, and targeted BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernie Keith with such venom that the court heard he contemplated suicide.
In 2019 Belfield began stalking theatre videographer Ben Hewis, who told the court Belfield “stole” a picture of his and his wife’s unborn baby and then emailed it to the couple.
