Shamed Ashley Blake free from jail

Shamed former TV newsreader Ashley Blake has been released from prison less than nine months into a two-year sentence for attacking a teenager, it was revealed today.

Blake was freed from Stafford Prison yesterday, where he was serving a sentence for wounding and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was released under the home curfew system that allows prisoners serving sentences of between three months and four years to be freed up to four and a half months earlier than they would normally be the case.

Blake is expected to have to wear an electronic tag under a curfew arrangement that means he must spend at least nine hours a day at home.

The former Midlands Today newsreader had to pass a careful risk assessment and checks on his home circumstances before being set free.

He was jailed in September for hitting 17-year-old Greg Jones in the face with a wooden pole at a birthday party last January at a bar he owned in Chester Road, Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield.

Up to 30 drunk people threw missiles including drinks glasses, ashtrays and garden furniture at the pub, Birmingham Crown Court heard at the time. Blake was seen on CCTV picking up the pole from behind a fridge.

He said his original intention was to use it to wedge the door of the pub shut after he and a doorman were attacked with missiles from youths that had left the party. He was later seen removing the pole and throwing it into his back garden.

The 40-year-old, who had been with the BBC eight years with shows including Inside Out, Watchdog and Holiday, was sacked by the BBC following his conviction.