Obsessed man who stalked BBC presenter Emily Maitlis found guilty
Edward Vines denied two accusations of breaching a restraining order stopping him contacting the journalist by sending her letters
A MAN has been convicted on two counts of breaching a restraining order by sending letter to BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis and her mother.
Edward Vines, 46, had always admitted breaching the order, but said he was left with "no alternative" after Ms Maitlis had failed to explain the breakdown in the friendship 25 years earlier, months after Vines told his fellow Cambridge undergraduate he loved her.
A member of staff from the psychiatric hospital where the 46-year-old is currently a patient, sat behind him.
Jurors at Oxford Crown Court took less than an hour to find Vines guilty of both counts.
He showed no emotion as the jury foreman returned the guilty verdicts.
Defence counsel Greg Foxsmith asked Vines if he accepted he was subject to a restraining order, which he said he did, but added: "I believe I have a reasonable excuse, in the circumstances, to breach the restraining order."
He recalled how he and Ms Maitlis had met as first year students at Queen's College, Cambridge University, in 1989, and said: "We became friends quickly, in the first week.
"In my eyes, at the time, I understood Emily Maitlis to be a platonic friend.
"Later I perceived there was more. I fell in love with her, she was an extremely attractive young lady, very bright, sentimental and emotional. I felt compelled to tell her that when I got back to college after Christmas.
Related Stories
"We remained friends and in the Easter holidays she wrote me a letter which I still have."
Vines said their friendship cooled when Ms Maitlis "scorned" him and put him down in front of friends, but until September 1990 they saw each other about a dozen times.
"It triggered in me a manic depression," he said.
"Some days were fine but some I would slip into a slumber of despondancy with regards the scorn and bellittling attitude she'd shown me."
After graduating he lived in Paris while Ms Maitlis worked abroad in Hong Kong, and Vines said he made contact with her because he was plagued by thoughts about the soured friendship - four years after they met.
Mr Foxsmith said: "It was a correspondance in the real sense of the word."
A planned meeting took place in July 1995, and Vines described the reunion as "very amicable and convivial."
However, three years later, when Vines was living in Berlin, Ms Maitlis wrote to his therapist to ask him not to contact her.
In April 1999, while still in Germany, he received a call from police in Hammersmith.
He told the jury at Oxford Crown Court: "Police gave me a call. They said 'you've sent her 50 letters,' which I hadn't."
Vines added. "I was given a warning."
Despite that he sent Ms Maitlis a letter at her work at Sky News and also to her home address.
The hearing continues.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368