Terrifying kidnap sees pair in prison - The Solihull Observer

Terrifying kidnap sees pair in prison

Solihull Editorial 10th Apr, 2014 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

A TERRIFYING kidnap ordeal, which saw a 62-year-old Dorridge man tied up, threatened with a knife and boiling water, bundled in to the boot of his own car and ordered to pay £50,000, has resulted in jail for robbers Alexander Blake and Ryan Blakeney.

Alexander Blake and fellow kidnapper Ryan Blakeney barged into their target’s home on the evening of April 10 last year and, after tying him up, threatened him with a knife and boiling water.

Mistakenly believing him to be a high-level drug dealer the pair made demands for £50,000 – but on suspecting they’d hit the wrong home rapidly reduced their demands to £10,000.

Blake, 22, and 23-year-old Blakeney pocketed a fake Rolex watch and £150 from the man’s pocket – but clinging to hope he had access to large sums of cash bundled the innocent victim into his own car and drove to east Birmingham.




Terrified, he was left stranded in Tyseley, locked in the rear seats, but was able to wriggle free and call police on his mobile that had been left behind so his blackmailers could continue making threats and demands by phone.

Blake and Blakeney were charged with robbery, kidnap and blackmail and at Birmingham Crown Court on February 14 they were jailed for 11 and eight years respectively.


The jury failed to reach a decision on a third suspect, Hanif Tuitt-Sinclair from Sheldon, and following a second hung jury – following which reporting restrictions were lifted on the case – prosecutors chose not to pursue a third trial.

Blake’s mother, 53-year-old Joyce Blake from Tyseley, and girlfriend Anesha Masikane-Cummins from Sutton Coldfield were also jailed for two years and 18 months, respectively, for trying to pervert the course of justice.

Both approached police on October 7 last year – day one of Blake’s court trial – to provide him with an alibi, claiming he spent the night at home with them in Tyseley at the time of the kidnap.

However, phone analysis showed Masikane-Cummins was in Erdington and near her home address on the night and sent a Whatsapp message at 1am on April 11 to Blake asking ‘wat u duin’ and exchanged texts at the time of the robbery.

Detective Superintendent Simon Wallis, said: “These are extremely serious crimes…it was a case of mistaken identity and, unfortunately for all involved, they targeted a completely innocent man who has no connections to drug dealing.

“The victim wasn’t hurt but clearly this would have been a terrifying ordeal and the offenders have rightly been handed lengthy jail sentences.

“Blake’s mother and girlfriend plotted to invent a false alibi in an attempt to put him in the clear – but we were quickly able to expose their lies and they too are now paying a heavy price for trying to pervert the course of justice.”

Ryan Blakeney.

Joyce Blake.

Anesha Masikane-Cummins.

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