Knife-Wielding Robber Kidnapped Parents As Their Children Slept Upstairs

The frightened parents were forced to leave their kids after Mark Kenneth Blackley, 40, broke into their home in Stretford at around 10.15pm and threatened them with the blade. After demanding money and bank cards on January 11 the thug took them to a cash point.
The bungling criminal prolonged the couple’s misery after losing the bank cards and forcing them to return home to The Downs in Altrincham and then head to a supermarket. The couple managed to escape during this time. A frustrated Blackley later broke into another home where he threatened more people with a knife and even got them to pour him an alcoholic drink. He eventually left with money and also stole a Peugeot 208. Blackley was caught following a police chase.
Blackley, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 24 years at Manchester Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a number of offences, including robbery, kidnapping and dangerous driving. He did not attend the sentencing after refusing to leave his prison cell. Detective Constable Helen Bagnall, of GMP’s Trafford Division, said: ‘Blackley is a dangerous, selfish offender. ‘He showed no regard for his victims, whom he subjected to a sustained, traumatic experience. ‘Not only did he subject two separate families to terrifying ordeals, he even forced parents from their home, leaving children alone upstairs. ‘Blackley’s menace was matched by the bravery of pursuing police officers, who tackled a dangerous offender whom they knew to be armed with knives. ‘We are indebted to their courage, and that of Blackley’s victims, whose testimony has helped put a dangerous offender behind bars.’