Ashley Blake

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Ashley Blake (born 1969) is a British television presenter and newsreader from Birmingham. He became well known in the English Midlands for his work with the BBC, reporting and presenting on Midlands Today, Inside Out, and Watchdog. He later joined Sky News as a reporter.

Life and career
Blake was born in Lozells, Birmingham, and grew up in a single-parent home. He is mixed-race and the youngest of six children. He has a son, Calam, with former partner Sharon Blatchford. After his mother died of cancer in 2000, he supported cancer charities.

He did a variety of early jobs, including driving and renting out vehicles, and worked with young offenders. He spent almost three years as a flight attendant for Britannia Airways, then studied journalism and began his media career with L!VE TV in Liverpool, moving to its Birmingham station. In 2001 he went to London to work as a reporter on Watchdog, BBC London News and ITV London Tonight, and on Dream Ticket. He had a short spell presenting BBC Breakfast before returning to Birmingham to join Midlands Today as a presenter and reporter.

At Midlands Today he reported regularly and also presented the Friday Evening Late News Bulletin and the region’s Inside Out. He sometimes filled in on BBC Breakfast and helped present the Midlands regional segments of the Children in Need telethon.

Controversy and BBC departure
Blake’s last Midlands Today edition aired in January 2009. He was suspended after an incident at a restaurant he co-owned with Jessica Hayes, and was later dismissed by the BBC. In 2009 he was convicted of unlawful wounding and perverting the course of justice in connection with the incident and was sentenced to two years in prison. He served nine months and was released in June 2010 under home curfew. The BBC also terminated his employment.

Later, details of prior convictions were revealed. Blake said the BBC did not know about them when he joined.

Later career and current work
After his release, Blake stayed out of the spotlight for a time and then returned to television. In 2016 he came back as a presenter for Inside Out (Midlands). He has appeared in Nativity! (2009) and The Snarling (2018). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University in 2007 for his contributions to television journalism, and he has done freelance work for the BBC.

Today he is a Sky News reporter and runs ashleyblake.tv.