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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Neil Docking

Scrambler yob caught with two and a half kilos of ecstasy

A scrambler yob faces prison after being caught with more than two and a half kilos of ecstasy.

Ryan Blake was previously jailed last September over a shocking attack when a police officer was hit in the head with a brick.

He and an unknown masked man on a stolen scrambler bike armed themselves with the brick before seeking out a police car.

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It was hurled through the rear windscreen of the vehicle and struck driver PC John Prescott in the back of the head.

The victim fortunately only suffered minor injuries in the incident on Speke Road in Garston in February of last year.

Blake, of Hughes Street, Garston, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on the basis he wasn't the one who threw the brick.

The then 24-year-old was jailed for 16 months after claiming they targeted the police in "revenge" for the seizure of his friend's scrambler bike.

Blake, now 25, appeared back in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court today to be sentenced for possessing both MDMA and cocaine with intent to supply.

The charges state he was caught with 2.62kg of MDMA at his home in Garston on November 11, 2019 - three months before the brick attack.

He was arrested again on July 17, 2020 and when searched at St Anne Street Police Station, was found to have 3.9g of cocaine in eight wraps.

Ryan Blake, 24, of Hughes Street, Garston (Liverpool Echo)

Blake pleaded guilty to both offences at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on June 30 this year, when magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report.

However, Jonathan Duffy, defending, explained the report had not yet been completed by the Probation Service.

He also sought the input of his client's offender manager, who has been working with Blake since he was released from his 16-month sentence.

Mr Duffy asked for an adjournment, which was granted by the judge, Recorder Michael Blakey.

The judge said Blake would be sentenced on September 1 and extended his bail until that date.

At Blake's sentence hearing last year, the court heard he was already a convicted cocaine dealer.

In 2016 he was jailed for two and a half years for possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.

His criminal record also features criminal damage and in May 2019 he was convicted of drug driving and driving with no insurance.

The attack on PC Prescott unfolded at around 3pm on Friday, February 7, 2020, when the officer and a colleague were on their way to a call.

It happened as they waited in traffic on Speke Road near the Horrocks Avenue junction, moments before PC Prescott was about to make a turn.

Blake and his friend sped off on an orange and black Duke off-road bike - with no licence plates - stolen in Warrington 11 days previously.

They ditched the bike near some flats, but it was recovered by the police.

Blake was then tracked down thanks to a witness account, dashcam footage and his DNA, found on a handle bar of the scrambler.

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Frank Dillon, prosecuting, said the attack was a joint enterprise and from a sentencing point of view, it didn't matter who actually threw the brick.=

He said: "Though it's common sense it was the passenger rather than the rider, it matters not."

Mr Dillon added: "The defendant says in his pre-sentence report it was in effect a revenge attack for his friend's motorbike or scrambler bike being seized."

PC Prescott felt nauseous, suffered from headaches for three days and said it was "scary" because he was waiting to pull out onto a busy road.

He also said to be attacked "in such an underhand and unprovoked way" had temporarily knocked his confidence.

Judge Anil Murray said: "This was a deliberate attack against the police - police officers going about their public duties."

He added: "The pre-sentence report says you committed this offence because you felt anger towards the police because of the way you perceived they had treated you."

Jailing him for 16 months, the judge said: "This must carry a message that people who carry out attacks on the police will be sent to prison."

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