Alexis Green: BBC South presenter speaks out over harassment ordeal

The face of the weather for millions, Alexis Green has long been a familiar and friendly companion to people in the south of England.

But as BBC South Today's lead weather presenter, Ms Green ended up being bombarded with scores of sexual messages, photos and videos which had a huge impact on her life.

It started as a message sent to her personal Facebook profile by a man she did not know, following a shift at work.

Ms Green was unable to sleep and had to take time off work after being sent the messages via Facebook messenger.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast to Sally Nugent, Alexis describes the impact such harassment can have on someone and how she hopes speaking out will help other people seek assistance if they are experiencing the same.

Alexis Green has been presenting the weather on BBC South Today for more than a decade

The harassment started in November 2022.

"I had a few messages from this guy and they were inappropriate, saying something like, 'You are warming up my house tonight'," she says.

Ms Green blocked the sender but a month later he created a new Facebook profile and started messaging her again, about two to three times each day.

'Physically sick'

This time though, as well as messages to her inbox, he also started sending her explicit videos about his own sexual desires.

The harassment preyed on her mind while she was at work, leaving her feeling "physically sick" thinking about how the man sending her these messages was watching her on the programme.

"My legs were shaking, my hands were shaking, I was trying to hold it together on air," she says.

"Obviously you've got a job to do, you have to present something to the public.

"I felt I had a job to do but I also felt very anxious and scared at the same time."

• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.

Ms Green went to the police after showing one of the video messages to her partner. Within 24 hours officers had made an arrest.

Over the course of two or three months, Alexis was sent more than 30 videos and a further 120 messages.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast to Sally Nugent, Alexis describes the impact the harassment continues to have on her life

The distress also had a huge impact on her personal life, away from the studio.

"I am a keen runner so I'd go out and pound the streets on my own but I found myself looking over my shoulder, really scared to see if he'd been lurking in the bush," she says.

"It got to the point where I'd go to bed at night and I wouldn't sleep at all.

"The dog would bark downstairs and I'd be instantly opening the curtains, thinking there was someone out there or he was out there."

On 15 March, after admitting harassment against Ms Green, a 55-year-old man was jailed for 17 weeks and given a restraining order.

"I had to sit in a room with him in court," she says.

"Obviously the court case was horrendous for me... I sat there in the dock shaking.

"It was really, really hard but at the end of it I had a result."

Being a figure on the nightly news across Southern England, Alexis is well known to millions of people

Despite now being able to look ahead, with the legal process complete, Ms Green is aware that the impact of her harassment will linger.

"It has made me afraid, I am scared to do certain things - I won't go for a run on my own anymore, I take the dog," she says.

"I feel that there is that protection in place but it is not going to help me, it is not going to help my personal feelings, my anxiety, I'll always have that with me."

'Voice of the people'

For anyone else being subjected to similar harassment, Ms Green hopes her ordeal will at least show an example of how it can be dealt with.

"I felt that being on the television, I was the voice of the people out there who are going through exactly the same thing," she says.

"I wonder if sometimes there's an element of acceptance - a certain level of harassment that goes on online - a lot of the time to women.

"Maybe we just accept it but maybe we shouldn't.

"I think I can focus on the future - I just have to take it a day at a time. Hopefully, with time, things will get better."