Man given life sentence for rape and religiously aggravated assault of Sikh woman

A man who raped a Sikh woman in her home while subjecting her to a tirade of religiously aggravated abuse has been handed a life sentence.

During his attack in Walsall, John Ashby beat the woman - in her 20s - with a stick, while also shouting anti-Muslim abuse, wrongly believing her to be of that faith.

In a sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, the judge described the 32-year-old as a "deeply unpleasant racist and Islamaphobe".

Ashby was told he would serve a minimum term of 14 years in prison.

During the trial, which began on Monday and ended on Tuesday when Ashby admitted his guilt, the court heard how he had followed the victim - a stranger - as she got off a bus in October 2025.

After the woman reached her home, Ashby, without her knowledge, also entered the property, armed with a two-foot stick he had picked up from the ground.

He admitted charges of rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault.

Passing sentence, judge Mr Justice Pepperall said Ashby, of no fixed address, had held her against her will "as you sexually and physically assaulted her for at least 24 minutes".

The judge referred in his sentencing remarks to how, as the court heard on Monday, Ashby was arrested in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham two days after the attack, and when booked into a police station there, remarked"you never see any Englishmen in Perry Barr any more".

He also said to Ashby: "On being shown a photograph of the woman during your police interview, you asked why she wasn't wearing a hijab."

As the prosecution opened its case earlier this week, the court heard that after barging into the victim's bathroom, Ashby forced her to take off her clothes while telling her he was a "British master".

He also put his hands around her neck to strangle her, and demanded that she climb into the bathtub.

"He turned on the hot water tap and began pouring water over her, telling her to say 'hallelujah' as he did so," said prosecutor Phil Bradley KC.

The prosecution added that after raping the woman, Ashby instructed her to go into the bedroom and lie on the bed, saying - as he had earlier in the attack - that he was there "to have fun". He also referred to his private parts as being white British.

Bradley said the attack only came to an end because Ashby was "evidently spooked by a noise outside" and ran away, taking the victim's jewellery and a mobile phone.

The victim sat through the sentencing hearing and appeared emotional at times but was supported by friends.

In a personal statement read into the court record by a barrister, the woman said: "What happened to me has changed every part of my life.