Detective warns convicted cyberstalker Alex Belfield has resumed online activity after release

The detective who led the investigation that secured the conviction of prolific cyberstalker Alex Belfield said she fears he has restarted an online campaign of abuse after his release from prison in June.

Detective Constable Janet Percival, who retired from Nottinghamshire Police in December, said Belfield has resumed posting daily videos on YouTube, where he retains nearly 350,000 followers, and has used the platform to criticise some of his victims without naming them. Percival said Belfield has framed his release as vindication, at times claiming to be a "political prisoner," and has publicly aligned himself with hard‑right figures.

Belfield was convicted in August 2022 of stalking four people and was sentenced the following month to five and a half years in prison. His victims included broadcaster Jeremy Vine, who told jurors he was subject to "an avalanche of hatred" in a campaign of repeated abusive messages, videos and emails. Belfield was released in June after serving half his sentence at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire and is subject to licence conditions that police and probation say he must follow.

Percival said those licence conditions should include prohibitions on using social media for people convicted of cyberstalking, similar to restrictions sometimes imposed on sex offenders. "I’m absolutely disgusted that a convicted stalker can come out of prison, pick up where he left off and claim he's a political prisoner for 'hurty words'," she told the Sunday Times. "Belfield weaponised the internet and he’s been doing it again."

During the investigation that began in 2019, Percival gathered evidence that led to Belfield's trial. Prosecutors told the court that the abuse began after Belfield's brief tenure at the BBC in 2010 ended and escalated from defamatory emails to persistent posts on social media and video platforms. Jurors heard that Belfield repeatedly created new email addresses when blocked and copied in industry figures in campaigns of harassment that continued for nearly a decade before the BBC referred the matter to police.

At trial the judge said Belfield's motive was "personal grudges and responses to real or apparent slights," rather than the exercise of journalistic freedom. Vine described fears for his family's safety and evidence presented at trial included references in Belfield's content that caused Vine to install security cameras and warn his teenage daughter to be cautious in public. Belfield later agreed to pay "substantial" damages to Vine in a 2023 civil case for false allegations of dishonesty, and in May 2024 a court ordered Belfield to pay a libel sum after wrongly accusing Percival of participating in a "BBC witch hunt." His lawyer issued an apology to Percival at that time.

While imprisoned, Belfield maintained an online presence: a countdown clock on his website tracked time to his release and two videos briefly appeared on his "Voice of Reason" YouTube channel. Since his release he has published a book titled Surviving the Slammer, advertised on his channel, and posted videos in which he has labelled police corrupt and criticised public figures linked to his case. YouTube removed advertising revenue from his channel in 2022, but the platform has allowed him to continue using the site for publicity, enabling sales of books and merchandise. Belfield's planned post‑release tour was cancelled after concerns from the Probation Service that it might breach licence conditions.

In one recent message to subscribers Belfield said he had been banned from uploading "any material on any app or site" and warned that breaching that ban would result in his return to custody. Percival said she believes the content directed at institutions and individuals is aimed at her, and recounted earlier episodes in which followers of Belfield sent complaints about her to professional standards after he published videos alleging she had lied to judges and was corrupt.

Percival argued that public understanding of cyberstalking often underestimates its effects, saying the immediacy of email and social media places the aggressor "effectively in their house" and causes significant psychological harm. She recounted that when Belfield first made videos about her, his followers generated hundreds of complaints to police professional standards. She said a forensic psychologist who worked on the case told her Belfield is unlikely to stop until he feels vindicated.

Calls from law enforcement and victims' advocates for clearer licence restrictions on online activity follow wider debates about platform moderation and the tools available to policing and probation services to manage risks posed by convicted online offenders. Critics including Percival have urged the justice system and technology companies to coordinate more effectively to prevent convicted cyberstalkers from resuming campaigns of abuse once released.

YouTube has previously demonetised Belfield's account and removed some content, but Percival said she was told by a technical expert that platforms are selective about removals and may act only in the most egregious cases. Belfield's ability to maintain a sizeable online audience despite sanctions and criminal convictions highlights ongoing tensions between freedom of expression, platform policy enforcement and public safety in cases of organised online harassment.

Police and probation officials have not publicly detailed any monitoring activity tied to Belfield's licence in response to the recent postings. Percival said she wants the Ministry of Justice to consider formal social media bans for those convicted of cyberstalking, arguing that limiting access to the platforms used to perpetrate harm would better protect victims and reduce the chance of repeated offence.

Percival said she does not expect Belfield to stop. "It has never been a freedom of speech fight but that it’s actually just all about money," she said, asserting that Belfield's public support for multiple causes is motivated by commercial gain. The detective said she believes the harm to victims continues when the online abuse is revived and that their lives are forced to include repeated exposure to the lies and allegations that led to the original prosecution.