Dangerous rapist claims trial was unfair because he previously robbed his own defence lawyer
A ‘dangerous’ rapist has claimed his trial was unfair – because he had robbed the barrister who defended him.
Jobari Joseph Blake tried to convince a top judge he was subject to an unfair trial after denying sex offences.
The Oldbury criminal said he was part of a gang that had targeted his lawyer years before.
He told the court that he had ‘raised the issue’ once he recognised her but that she had continued to represent him.
But London’s Court of Appeal dismissed his argument after hearing his barrister had dismissed his claims.
The ruling means he has been refused the chance to overturn his conviction and sentence.
The appeal court was told that Blake was locked up for 12 years after he was convicted of rape and attempted rape at Wolverhampton Crown Court in January.
At the time of his trial the 37-year-old was condemned as a dangerous offender.
He had been ordered to serve an extra six years on licence after release.
The Court of Appeal heard Blake, of Hilton Road, Oldbury, attacked his victim after breaking in and entering her home while she was with her children.
He had already been convicted of charges of kidnapping and robbing lone women in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, along with two others, in 2007.
Victims were forced from their cars and then driven to cash machines, where they were forced to withdraw money and hand it over, the court was told.
The sex offender, who believed his barrister was one of the women targeted in the robberies, decided to challenge his sex offences conviction and sentence at the London court.
Outlining his claims at the appeal court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: “He said his trial barrister was one of the victims of the robbery and kidnapping offences to which he pleaded guilty in 2007.”
But a judge said it was ‘inconceivable’ the barrister would have agreed to defend someone who had robbed her.
The ‘highly-experienced’ barrister – called to the bar in 1991 – was adamant Blake was wrong and she was not a victim of the gang, the court heard.
She had also told the court Blake’s claim was ‘entirely untrue’ when contacted.
Blake was refused permission to appeal and told his conviction was ‘safe’ and sentence ‘unimpeachable, just and proportionate’.
