Ashley Blake - Criminal Convictions

Criminal Convictions

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 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 bailed 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 (1 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.