The former Nottinghamshire Police detective constable says Belfield has ‘dragged’ her back into the saga since his prison release
Alex Belfield arriving for his trial at Nottingham Crown Court in 2022(Image: PA)
The former Nottinghamshire Police officer who played a key role in putting Alex Belfield behind bars feels the convicted stalker is trying to ‘shut her up’ following his prison release.
Janet Percival spent nearly 20 years with Nottinghamshire Police and says that the Belfield case was one of the most difficult she ever dealt with.
The 60-year-old retired in December 2024 and now lives in Costa Rica with her husband, yet more recently says she has been “dragged” back into the Belfield saga following the Nottingham stalker’s release from HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire.
The former detective constable has vowed that she will never be quiet until Belfield stops spreading misinformation about his conviction and the police investigation that led to it.
In a video posted on YouTube on September 7, Belfield says at one point: “I said this was a witch hunt and corrupt from the beginning and I maintain my position.”
Janet has also criticised the Ministry of Justice for having not put tougher licence conditions on Belfield following his prison release, meaning he has been able to broadcast falsehoods about his case whilst still serving a sentence.
Belfield was previously put on a final warning from YouTube and any further breaches of the platform’s rules would have led to his ‘Voice of Reason’ channel being permanently removed, after it was previously demonetised in 2022.
Despite the level of personal abuse she suffered whilst dealing with the Belfield case, Janet said: “I wasn’t frightened of him during the investigation and I’m certainly not frightened of him now.”
Detective Inspector Craig Hall, speaking after nominating Janet for a Nottinghamshire Police award in 2023, said at the time: “After being interviewed early in the investigation, Belfield upped the ante with his campaign and began to release dozens of YouTube videos where he was personally attacking DC Percival and encouraging his 300,000 strong army of followers to target both DC Percival and certain BBC broadcasters with hateful online comments and videos.”
Former BBC Radio Leeds presenter Belfield, from Nottingham, was jailed in September 2022 over a “vicious and continued campaign of abuse” against four people.
Belfield was convicted of stalking to cause alarm and distress to BBC Radio Northampton’s Bernie Keith and guilty of the same charge concerning videographer Ben Hewis.
He was further found guilty of “simple stalking” regarding BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine and theatre blogger Philip Dehany – the latter of whom is now seeking damages against Belfield.
As well as indefinite restraining orders being made in relation to the four people he was convicted of stalking, Belfield also had indefinite restraining orders imposed in relation to four women whom he was cleared of stalking.
Belfield was jailed for five years and 26 weeks in September 2022, with the court making it clear at the time that he would serve half of this in prison and the other half on licence and he was released from HMP Fosse Way on June 12.
Belfield’s YouTube channel regularly featured criticism of the BBC and the former employee of the corporation claimed he was jailed for speaking out about them.
Yet this claim was rebuffed during sentencing by the judge, Mr Justice Saini, who said at the time: “I find that the motivating factor in your communications about these complainants was not the exercise of journalistic freedom to comment on matters of public interest, but personal grudges and responses to real or apparent slights.
“You are entitled to hold and express views but you are not entitled to destroy the personal lives of your victims through online harassment.”
Janet Percival was one of those who helped put Alex Belfield behind bars (Image: Nottinghamshire Police)
Belfield said in early September it was “very likely” he would be thrown back in prison after he revealed news of a death at HMP Fosse Way in a recent YouTube video.
Nottinghamshire Live reported earlier in August that a planned tour by Belfield across the UK had been blocked by the Probation Service over fears that it would lead to the presenter breaching his licence conditions.
Belfield’s website then recently claimed that he had been stopped from posting on any social media channels and his accounts have indeed been silent for weeks.
“I was told when he came out that he wouldn’t dare speak about me again, let alone the case,” Janet says.
“But the minute he came out, it was, ‘I’m the victim, I’m a political prisoner, I’m a convicted talker’.
“I couldn’t stay quiet, because it’s not fair and it’s not the truth and I can’t understand the Ministry of Justice not putting in a licence condition saying you can’t use social media while you’re still a serving prisoner, because that’s what he is.”
Belfield’s website referred to him as “The Convicted Talker” shortly after his prison release, with a message at the top of the website at the time reading: “Thank you for stalking AlexBelfield.com – Officially a political prisoner since 2023.”
Janet was forced to launch libel action against Belfield after he made a series of allegations about her in his YouTube videos and this proved successful, with a statement being read in court in May 2024.
Nottinghamshire Live has seen a copy of the legal documents relating to this successful libel action.
Belfield had to pay Janet a substantial sum in terms of compensation and costs and Belfield’s solicitor said at the time that his apology was “sincere and unqualified”.
Yet Belfield has maintained since his release that his conviction was unjust and Janet says: “When he still says that he sticks by everything, he’s still saying I’m corrupt.
“We’re trying to look at ways that we can try and pursue that with him.
“I’m prepared to go through it again with him because I’m not frightened of him.
“I think he’s trying to shut me up. He doesn’t want me to keep changing his narrative of the case and the only thing I will talk about is the case.”
Alex Belfield arriving for his original Nottingham Crown Court trial (Image: Marie Wilson/Nottingham Post )
Janet has regularly been taking to TikTok to debunk some of Belfield’s misinformation since his prison release and, although quiet on his own social media platforms, the stalker has taken part in an interview with Jim Davidson for the latter’s streaming service.
During the recently published interview, Belfield discusses his case, but Jim Davidson tells him at one point that it is time to “move on”.
Janet said: “I give Jim Davidson his due, that was sound advice and, if he does that, great, because that’s me finished.
“I don’t like lies. I don’t like people that manipulate the truth and put misinformation out there.
“I still believe I’m being targeted to come off social media and stop talking about him.”
Janet believes it is now “too late” to impose stricter conditions on Belfield, but says the Ministry of Justice should treat similar crimes differently in future, saying: “On any person that’s convicted of a cybercrime, I would like to see that it is on their licence conditions that they’re not on social media until the end of that licence period.
“If you come out of prison and it’s drink driving, they don’t give you your car keys back and say ‘here you go, get in your car now’.”
The Ministry of Justice does not comment on the licence conditions of individual offenders, but a Probation Service spokesperson said: “People released on licence must follow strict conditions designed to protect the public, prevent re-offending and support rehabilitation.
“Conditions are kept under active review and, where behaviour raises concern, appropriate enforcement action will be taken.”
Janet, who won a Nottinghamshire Police award for her work on the Belfield case before retiring, added: “If he goes away into oblivion and it stops, I will not talk about him ever again. I will not mention his name.”
