A decision to hold a public parole hearing for former BBC presenter Alex Belfield has been overturned.

The ex-BBC local radio presenter was jailed for five years and 26 weeks in September 2022 after being convicted of four stalking charges against victims including Jeremy Vine.

It was initially ruled in July this year that his parole hearing could take place in public, a move supported by Belfield himself.

However, earlier this month a Parole Board panel decided that Belfield would be unable to properly present his case in public within the terms of restraining orders put in place in light of his convictions.

Alex Belfield was jailed for five years and 26 weeks in September 2022 for causing alarm and distress to two victims and stalking two others, including Jeremy Vine.

placeholder image — Alex Belfield was jailed for five years and 26 weeks in September 2022 for causing alarm and distress to two victims and stalking two others, including Jeremy Vine.

These prevent him “publishing, through any form of publication or electronic communication, any statement or other material relating to or purporting to relate to” eight individuals.

The panel chairman had already told Belfield that he could only have a public parole hearing if he were legally represented and not if he represented himself.

” I…warned Mr Belfield that in my view, were he to continue to act in person, the difficulties were such that that in a public hearing they were overwhelmingly likely to impair his ability properly to present his case,” panel chairman Patrick Thomas KC said.

“It would, in my view, put him in a position where he would be ‘walking on eggshells’ when he gave evidence or questioned witnesses.”

A lawyer was then appointed by Belfield, who agreed that his case could not be heard fairly in public.

“In my judgment the concerns expressed on Mr Belfield’s behalf about the fairness of proceedings to him were this to be a public hearing are well-founded.

“On that ground, and that ground alone, I revoke the direction for a public hearing, and direct a private hearing,” Mr Thomas said.

Previously, an unnamed victim of Belfield’s had also objected to a public hearing on the grounds that it would have a “significant detrimental impact” on their wellbeing.

Belfield was originally released early from prison on June 12 2025, before he was recalled to jail in February the following year.

His current sentence expires in March 2028.

The private parole hearing will take place on November 25 and 26.