NEWSNIGHT presenter Emily Maitlis has revealed she fears her stalker "will never stop" as she compared her 27-year torment to a "chronic illness".
The BBC star opened up about her nightmare ordeal after Edward Vines, 47, was caged for contacting her from prison.
The 47-year-old said she "doesn't believe it will ever stop" as she revealed the devastating impact the stalking had on her family.
She told BBC Radio 5 live's Emma Barnett Show: "Your head is somewhere else and you're having to think about things that are just ludicrous, like 'how do you get in and out of your front door' and 'how they are getting back from school?'
"It's not that you think everyone is out to kill you. You recognise it as a paranoia. But it doesn't make it any easier.
"This has literally been going on for 20 years. It feels like sort of a chronic illness.
She said stalker Edward Vines put major pressure on her marriage to husband Mark Gwynne
"It's not that I ever believe it will stop or he will stop, or the system will manage to prevent it properly."
Emily says her stalker hell has heaped strain on her marriage and frightened her kids, adding: "You turn into this person who shouts at your kids for the wrong thing."
Ex-university pal Vines was jailed for 45 months breaching a restraining order, having first been convicted of harassing Maitlis in 2002.
A judge in Oxford said it was a "scandal" the stalker was able to write to Emily while he was in jail.
Vines first met the journalist in 1989 while she was a student at Queen's College, Cambridge and became obsessed after claiming she acted "scornfully" when he revealed his love for her.
He launched into almost 30 years of “psychological torture” – bombarding her with letters and emails leaving Emily fearing she was being targeted like fellow presenter Jill Dando, who was shot dead.
Vines admitted two charges of breaching a lifetime restraining order.
He sent three letters from Bullingdon Prison, Oxon, in late 2016 while serving three years for breaching an order not to contact the broadcaster.
Vines was quizzed about the notes, yet freed early on licence.
He sent two more to her at BBC2’s Newsnight last September from his Oxford bail hostel.
Vines chillingly warned: “I will not relent.”
An emotional victim impact statement penned by Emily was read in court – where she accused the criminal justice system of letting her down.
She said investment banker hubby Mark Gwynne was frustrated that the problem had not been solved “even though they had been tackling it through the Crown Prosecution Service and courts for over 20 years”.
Speaking today, Emily said it was "bizarre beyond belief" that Vines could write to her from jail.
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She added: "I remember the first time the police came round and they pulled my husband aside and said 'You're the one we're worried about here'.
"Apparently there is a very natural course of behaviour, that the husband just goes out and decks the guy.
"Then of course you're in the worst possible position because your own husband is serving time instead of the perpetrator."
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