Presenter jailed for attack on young man

A BBC presenter who hit a teenage boy in the face with a large wooden pole was jailed for two years yesterday. Midlands Today reporter Ashley Blake was convicted of unlawful wounding last month.

Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court heard Mr Blake swung a patio umbrella pole above his head, striking 17-year-old Greg Jones in the face at the pub Mr Blake then owned, The Place 2B in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.

The teenager, who had been attending an 18th birthday party at the venue, suffered facial injuries to his lip and chin.

Mr Blake, 40, was also found guilty of intending to pervert the course of justice after throwing the pole into a neighbouring garden centre in an attempt to conceal it from police.

Following his convictions at Birmingham Crown Court on August 3, Judge Peter Carr warned Mr Blake he faced a prison sentence and today jailed the presenter for two years.

The court heard Mr Blake fetched the pole - measuring about three feet - from behind the bar after customer Steven Sproule punched 17-year-old Adam Finn in the face, leaving him unconscious. Mr Blake then used the pole to strike Greg Jones, who was trying to act as a peacemaker.

Mr Sproule, of Booths Farm Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The 38-year-old, who was serving a suspended sentence for driving offences at the time of the incident, was today handed a 13-month prison term.

Mr Blake was also given a six-month sentence, to run concurrently with the two-year term, for intending to pervert the course of justice. Judge Carr told the pair: "This was a serious episode of public violence.