Earlier this month, ex-BBC presenter Alex Belfield was jailed for stalking and harassment. His victims included former colleagues at the corporation, among them Radio 2's Jeremy Vine. One striking aspect of the case was that he was given leave by the judge to file social media updates reporting on his own trial.

"Bear in mind, my audience on YouTube is bigger than GB News, Sky News and Talk TV put together."

So said Belfield on his YouTube channel The Voice of Reason, in a video entitled "BBC and police witch-hunt". And while the broadcasters in question might dismiss his audience claims as exaggeration, there is little doubt he reached a lot of people.

On that post alone, Belfield, from Nottingham, attracted more than 183,000 views, 11,000 likes and nearly 2,000 comments.

The most striking aspect of the video was that, even as Belfield was posting it, he was on trial accused of stalking eight people, including some of his former BBC colleagues.

The court heard that the 42-year-old had repeatedly exposed them to hatred as a result of his social media activity.

Each day, Belfield - who denied the charges - would appear before judge and jury, and later filmed himself outside the court or at home reporting on the progress of the case.

He would then upload his reports to the same social media channels the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said he had continually used to harass his victims.

He was found guilty of four stalking offences and cleared of another four.

Belfield's YouTube channel has more than 350,000 subscribers. His court reports regularly attracted thousands of comments and more than 100,000 views.

"It was absolutely bizarre," said Jeremy Vine, one of the BBC stars Belfield was found guilty of targeting.

"He was essentially reporting on his own case - I have never heard of it happening before.

"You were watching your stalker read out your evidence online."