Jay Blades has revealed he was ‘attacked by racist police’ while growing up in London.
The Repair Shop star, 51, has won hearts across the UK by restoring people’s items on the heart-warming BBC series but the suave star has recalled more troubled times.
Jay recently shared that he was beaten up by police for the first time at the age of 14.
On the encounter, which Jay said occurred at 10pm in North West London and was a “normal” part of life for a black man in the 1980s, he told The Mirror: “The back doors swung open and there were five or six uniformed policemen sitting in the van waiting for me.
(Image: BBC/Ricochet Ltd)
“They didn’t even bother to search me. They just beat the s*** out of me.”
Describing the beating as “brutal”, he added: “They were laying into me with fists, feet and truncheons, and all I could do was roll into a ball on the floor of the van and wait, pray, for it to end. It probably lasted two minutes but it felt a lot, lot longer.
“They were laughing, ‘This’ll show you, black b******!’.
“When they’d had enough they chucked me out and drove off.”
Jay never reported the attack to law enforcement, as they were the perpetrators responsible and he feared the outcome of doing so.
(Image: BBC / Ricochet / Nicky Johnston)
He added: “You see so many injustices when you grow up in a poor area, and you know there’s no point in verbalising anything.”
The reveal follows Jay previously opening up about his struggles with mental health, which at his lowest point, left him contemplating suicide.
Six years ago, the presenter hit rock bottom after a period of ill-fortune which saw him lose his marriage, his home and the charity he was managing at the time.
Last year, he told The Mirror. “The state that I was in I would have taken my own life, and I came close.
(Image: BBC/Ricochet Ltd/Steve Peskett)
“I got in my car and decided to drive. I had no vision of where I was going. I ended up in Wolverhampton, and for a couple of nights I slept in my car.”
Jay eventually ran out of petrol and pulled into a retail park, where he was found by police officers and a psychiatric nurse who had been called by his ex-wife Jade over fears Jay was a danger to himself.
He was later picked up by a friend, who Jay “sobbed” in front of and with whom he credits for saving his life.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
