BBC star Jay Blades appeared in court this morning via video link to deny two counts of rape.
Blades was listed at Shrewsbury Crown Court under his full name of Jason Blades.
The television presenter appeared on screen wearing a blue suit, white shirt and dark blue polka dot tie and spectacles.
The 55-year-old television presenter has separately been charged with coercively controlling his ex-wife Lisa-Marie Zbozen, 43. He has previously pleaded not guilty to that charge.
The prosecution today made an unapposed application for both indictments to be joined and the judge agreed the rape and coercive control charges would be heard as one trial at Shrewsbury.
Susan Meek, defending, told the court Blades had not worked since allegations against him were first made in March 2024.
But the court heard that the earliest date available to accommodate the trial at Shrewsbury was in September 2027, with the judge commenting that ‘press attention on this case’ might bring to the fore ‘the chronic position we are in with regard to the ‘court’ backlog’.
He added: ‘The reality is that everyone who is waiting for trial, their lives are being put on hold.’
TV presenter Jay Blades (pictured in October last year) has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape at Shrewsbury Crown Court
Blades in a BBC publicity picture on the set of The Repair Shop
Judge Anthony Lowe said that if he was to bring Blades’ case forward it would have the effect of ‘bumping’ other cases down the queue.
The hearing lasted 24 minutes and Blades was granted conditional bail.
The judge told him he was ‘sorry’ the trial will not be heard for two years.
He added: ‘I regret that. It’s not a proper justice system where people have to wait that amount of time for their trial but i’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.’
Blades spoke to confirm his name and date of birth and that he understood scheduling procedures around the case.
The case will return to Shrewsbury Crown Court for a management hearing in May.
West Mercia Police confirmed that Blades, a father of three, had been charged with rape last month.
The Repair Shop star Blades was originally charged last September with a single count of controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship between January 1 2023 and September 12 2024.
A court artists’ sketch of Blades during an earlier appearance at Worcester Crown Court last year
Filming on the new series of the BBC One show – in which members of the public bring their treasured possessions and heirlooms to be fixed – began without him the same month.
At the time, furniture restorer Blades, of Claverley, Shropshire, said he was taking a break to ‘take stock’ following the alleged murder of his uncle.
Blades wed Ms Zbozen – his second wife – in the grounds of a beachfront villa in Barbados in November 2022, 40 days before the start of the alleged abusive behaviour.
She announced on Instagram in May 2024 that she had walked out of the marriage.
Blades was dropped from The Repair Shop’s live tour after he was charged with ontrolling and coercive behaviour last year, while Roman Kemp replaced him as host for the show’s 2024 Christmas special.
He was handed an MBE in 2021 for services to craft and in recognition of his work promoting heritage craft and restoration in the UK.
In 2022, a special one-off episode to mark the BBC’s centenary saw Blades and the repair team visit the King, when he was still the Prince of Wales, at Dumfries House in Scotland.
During The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, a bracket clock and a piece made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee by British ceramics maker Wemyss Ware were both fixed – and the broadcast later won a daytime Bafta TV award.
Blades also presented the BBC’s Money For Nothing until 2020, and appeared on Celebrity Masterchef and Celebrity Bake Off as well as Comic Relief.
