Former BBC newsreader Ashley Blake, who was jailed for attacking a teenager with a wooden pole, is publishing his prison diaries.

The 41-year-old describes how prison tore apart his life and the chance to marry his then girlfriend Jessica Hayes.

He goes on to describe her as “remarkable” and reveals that the relationship ended after she had stood by him throughout the trial and during his time in prison.

Blake was released last June after serving nine months of a two-year sentence for wounding and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was jailed in September 2009 after a five-day trial for wounding 17-year-old Greg Jones with a wooden pole.

The teenager, from Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, needed ten stitches and was permanently scarred after the attack, which happened in January 2009.

He was attacked at a bar in nearby Chester Road that Blake used to co-own with his then girlfriend.

The new diaries, entitled Shining Bright Lights In Dark Places, launches on September 5 and claim to give a “true insight into prison life.”

Extracts from the first chapter include: “You’re about to read how life can turn on a sixpence just when you least expect it.

“How I fell from being a bright star on BBC television into the darkness of a prison cell.

“At the time I kept a diary of the nightmare I was faced with as a way of trying to make sense of what was happening to me and, of course, as a journalist my instinct compelled me to write.

“Either way this is a true account of what happened whilst I was banged up.”

Blake wrote a diary entry of exactly what was happening to him on a daily basis.

The ex-BBC News and Watchdog presenter added: “The book explores the roller-coaster of emotions.

“This book is an absolutely true account of the dark places I visited in my mind, how I struggled with the loss of my liberty and how I survived in prison.”