Ashley Blake
Encyclopedia
Ashley Blake is a former television presenter and newsreader. A well known personality in the English Midlands
, he worked mostly for the BBC, where his credits include reporting and presenting on Midlands Today
, the region's edition of Inside Out
, and briefly on the TV series Watchdog
. In September 2009 he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment after being convicted of assault. He was released on 8 June 2010, after serving nine months of his sentence, as part of the home curfew system for early release.
After losing his mother to cancer in 2000, he raised money for a cancer support charity.
, followed by a post-graduate degree in journalism, Blake started working in Liverpool
for L!VE TV
, before moving to its sister station in Birmingham (UK).
In 2001, he moved to London where he worked as a reporter on Watchdog as well as both BBC London News
and ITV's London Tonight
. Blake produced various holiday reports and then worked on London Weekend Televisions "Dream Ticket" programme. He had a short period of service as a presenter on National TV for BBC Breakfast
, before he returned to his home city to become a presenter and reporter on the BBC's Midlands Today. During his time at Midlands Today, Blake worked as a regular reporter, whilst also presenting the Friday Evening Late News Bulletin and the weekly edition of Inside Out
for the region. Blake also regularly filled in for Nick Owen
as presenter of the main edition of Midlands Today, and had occasionally presented the BBC Breakfast
editions in addition to presenting the Midlands regional segments of the BBC's annual Children in Need
telethon with Shefali Oza
and Sarah Falkland. Blake presented his last edition of Midlands Today on 23 January 2009, before being suspended following an incident at the New Oscott
restaurant, The Place 2 B, which he co-owned with his partner, Jessica Hayes, from 2003 until February 2009.
This incident eventually resulted in him being sacked by the BBC.
In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University
for his contributions to television journalism.
He appeared before Sutton Coldfield
Magistrates' Court
charged with possessing an offensive weapon, wounding with intent and affray. Blake appeared with a second man, Steven Sproule, aged 38, of Booths Farm Road, Great Barr
. Sproule was charged with assault and affray. Magistrates bail
ed Blake and Sproule to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 27 April. On 27 April, both men denied the charges brought against them and were granted unconditional bail pending trial.
The trial began at Birmingham Crown Court
on 27 July 2009. Blake's co-defendant, Sproule, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Blake denied the charges, and also pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by throwing the alleged weapon - a 3 foot (0.9144 m) long patio umbrella pole - into a nearby garden centre. The court was told that Blake hit the teenager in the face with the pole. The jury retired on 31 July 2009 before giving their verdict on 3 August 2009. Blake was found guilty of unlawful wounding and perverting the course of justice
, but was cleared of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was remanded on bail. On 2 September 2009, he was sentenced to two years in prison. In November 2009, his appeal against the sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal
He was released under home curfew
in June 2010 after serving nine months of his sentence.
As a result of the conviction, Blake was dismissed by the BBC on 14 August following an internal review.
was revealed. He had been convicted of theft on six occasions (twice in 1986, three times in 1987 and once in 1993) and handling stolen goods in 1988. In 1988, Blake was found guilty of altering documents following a traffic collision, resulting in him being disqualified from driving, a ban he broke in 1990. In an interview with rival regional news programme, ITV's Central Tonight
on the day of his sentencing, Blake revealed that the BBC were unaware of his previous convictions as they were all spent convictions when he joined the corporation.
Motorbike on 10 January, the morning after a night out, he was found to be just over the limit and was subsequently banned from driving for one year and ordered to pay £220 in fines and court fees.
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
, he worked mostly for the BBC, where his credits include reporting and presenting on Midlands Today
Midlands Today
Midlands Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for the West Midlands region, which covers the north of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands county...
, the region's edition of Inside Out
Inside Out
Inside Out was a hardcore punk band from Orange County, California. It was fronted by Zack de la Rocha, later of Rage Against the Machine.-Biography:...
, and briefly on the TV series Watchdog
Watchdog (TV series)
Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK...
. In September 2009 he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment after being convicted of assault. He was released on 8 June 2010, after serving nine months of his sentence, as part of the home curfew system for early release.
Early life
Blake grew up in the Lozells ara of Birmingham in a single parent household. He is of mixed race, and was the youngest of six children.Personal life
Blake has one child.After losing his mother to cancer in 2000, he raised money for a cancer support charity.
Career
Blake has had a career "from driving and renting out cars and trucks to working with young offenders in the care of social services in Birmingham." After spending almost three years as a flight attendant for Britannia AirwaysBritannia Airways
Britannia Airways was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases were Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow...
, followed by a post-graduate degree in journalism, Blake started working in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
for L!VE TV
L!VE TV
L!VE TV was a British television station that was operated by MGN on cable television from 15 August 1995 - 31 October 1999. It was later revived for Sky Digital from 2003...
, before moving to its sister station in Birmingham (UK).
In 2001, he moved to London where he worked as a reporter on Watchdog as well as both BBC London News
BBC London News
For other uses of the BBC London brand, see BBC London .BBC London News is the BBC's regional television news programme for the English region encompassing London and surrounding suburbs...
and ITV's London Tonight
London Tonight
London Tonight is a regional news programme broadcast on ITV London . Produced by ITN, the programme is broadcast at 6pm every weeknight, also including local sports news and local features of interest.Like all regional news programmes on ITV in England and Wales and Channel Television, it uses...
. Blake produced various holiday reports and then worked on London Weekend Televisions "Dream Ticket" programme. He had a short period of service as a presenter on National TV for BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
, before he returned to his home city to become a presenter and reporter on the BBC's Midlands Today. During his time at Midlands Today, Blake worked as a regular reporter, whilst also presenting the Friday Evening Late News Bulletin and the weekly edition of Inside Out
Inside Out
Inside Out was a hardcore punk band from Orange County, California. It was fronted by Zack de la Rocha, later of Rage Against the Machine.-Biography:...
for the region. Blake also regularly filled in for Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
as presenter of the main edition of Midlands Today, and had occasionally presented the BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
editions in addition to presenting the Midlands regional segments of the BBC's annual Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
telethon with Shefali Oza
Shefali Oza
Shefali Oza is a news presenter on BBC Birmingham's Midlands Today, the regional news programme broadcast in the Midlands of England...
and Sarah Falkland. Blake presented his last edition of Midlands Today on 23 January 2009, before being suspended following an incident at the New Oscott
New Oscott
New Oscott is an area of Birmingham, England.It was named after the Oscott area of Birmingham, when St. Mary's College, the Roman Catholic seminary, moved from that site to the new one. The original then became known as Old Oscott....
restaurant, The Place 2 B, which he co-owned with his partner, Jessica Hayes, from 2003 until February 2009.
This incident eventually resulted in him being sacked by the BBC.
In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University
Staffordshire University
Staffordshire University is a university with its main campus based in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and with other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield and Shrewsbury.- History :...
for his contributions to television journalism.
Assault conviction
On 26 January 2009, Blake was charged following an incident at his former restaurant in the early hours of 25 January in which a 17-year-old was wounded. He did not present any BBC programmes for the duration of the legal proceedings.He appeared before Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
charged with possessing an offensive weapon, wounding with intent and affray. Blake appeared with a second man, Steven Sproule, aged 38, of Booths Farm Road, Great Barr
Great Barr
Great Barr is a large and loosely-defined area which straddles the boundaries of Birmingham, West Bromwich and Walsall , West Midlands, England...
. Sproule was charged with assault and affray. Magistrates bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
ed Blake and Sproule to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 27 April. On 27 April, both men denied the charges brought against them and were granted unconditional bail pending trial.
The trial began at Birmingham Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
on 27 July 2009. Blake's co-defendant, Sproule, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Blake denied the charges, and also pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by throwing the alleged weapon - a 3 foot (0.9144 m) long patio umbrella pole - into a nearby garden centre. The court was told that Blake hit the teenager in the face with the pole. The jury retired on 31 July 2009 before giving their verdict on 3 August 2009. Blake was found guilty of unlawful wounding and perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
, but was cleared of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was remanded on bail. On 2 September 2009, he was sentenced to two years in prison. In November 2009, his appeal against the sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
He was released under home curfew
Home Detention Curfew
Home Detention Curfew is a detention scheme in the United Kingdom whereby certain short-term criminals are released from prison several weeks to months before the completion of their sentence to allow them to integrate back into society...
in June 2010 after serving nine months of his sentence.
As a result of the conviction, Blake was dismissed by the BBC on 14 August following an internal review.
Previous criminal record
As a result of the wounding trial, Blake's previous criminal recordCriminal record
A criminal record is a record of a person's criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country...
was revealed. He had been convicted of theft on six occasions (twice in 1986, three times in 1987 and once in 1993) and handling stolen goods in 1988. In 1988, Blake was found guilty of altering documents following a traffic collision, resulting in him being disqualified from driving, a ban he broke in 1990. In an interview with rival regional news programme, ITV's Central Tonight
Central Tonight
Central Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Central, serving the English Midlands.-History:...
on the day of his sentencing, Blake revealed that the BBC were unaware of his previous convictions as they were all spent convictions when he joined the corporation.
Drink driving
After being released from prison, Blake kept out of the media limelight. In March 2011, he admitted a charge of drink driving at Sutton Coldfield Magistrates Court. When stopped on his BMWBMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
Motorbike on 10 January, the morning after a night out, he was found to be just over the limit and was subsequently banned from driving for one year and ordered to pay £220 in fines and court fees.