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A man named John Ashby has been sentenced to life imprisonment following the rape of a Sikh woman in her home in Walsall. During the assault, Ashby subjected the woman, who is in her twenties, to physical violence using a stick and directed religiously aggravated abuse towards her, mistakenly believing she was Muslim. The court ordered Ashby to serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars.
The incident, which took place in October 2025, began after Ashby followed the victim as she disembarked from a bus. Unbeknownst to her, he gained entry to her home carrying a two-foot stick he had picked up near the property. Ashby admitted to charges including rape, robbery, intentional strangulation, and religiously aggravated assault. Judge Mr Justice Pepperall noted that Ashby, who had no fixed address at the time, restrained the woman for at least 24 minutes while committing these offenses.
During the police investigation, Ashby was arrested in Birmingham’s Perry Barr area two days after the attack. Remarkably, when taken into custody, he reportedly said, “you never see any Englishmen in Perry Barr anymore,” and questioned why the victim wasn’t wearing a hijab when shown her photo. Prosecutor Phil Bradley KC described how Ashby forced the woman to remove her clothes, subjected her to strangulation, and demanded she get into the bathtub while turning on hot water and instructing her to say “hallelujah”. After the rape, Ashby told her to lie on the bed, repeatedly making references to being a “British master” and his “white British” identity. The attack ended only when Ashby was startled by a noise outside, prompting him to flee with the victim’s jewelry and phone.
The victim attended the sentencing hearing and was visibly emotional, supported by friends. In a personal statement, she expressed how the attack had profoundly altered her life, saying, “Before the incident life was great. I was enjoying life. Now following the incident my life has drastically changed. I feel like that version of myself has been stripped away by a complete stranger with no explanation as to why. I feel lost and I struggle to recognise myself.” Ashby, who had a history of 10 previous convictions for 18 offenses and struggles with drug abuse-related mental health issues, was homeless at the time, having recently been discharged from psychiatric care. The judge acknowledged a negative mental state but attributed it to the voluntary use of drugs rather than any underlying disorder. After initially pleading not guilty, Ashby changed his plea shortly before the victim was due to testify, admitting his guilt following an exchange with a member of the public in court.
The Sikh Federation (UK) responded to the sentencing, commending the judge’s decision for its firmness, with lead executive Dabinderjit Singh stating, “The severe racist element of the attack has been highlighted in the court proceedings and sends a strong signal to all racists that carry out violent attacks.” Sukhvinder Kaur, chair of trustees at Sikh Women’s Aid, welcomed the ruling, emphasizing its importance in confronting the attitudes of the offender and remarked on the widespread fear the crime had caused throughout the West Midlands Sikh community. She linked the attack to broader issues around xenophobia and hatred exacerbated by toxic narratives concerning migration and religion, saying, “We can’t separate this rape from the toxic narratives around migration, immigration, migrant communities. When we look at communities, race and religion, all of that played into the hatred that this perpetrator held against a community.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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