John Ashby Jailed For Life For Raping Sikh Woman After Islamophobic Attack In Walsall

John Ashby, a 32-year-old man from the UK, was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a Sikh woman in her own home after he wrongly believed she was Muslim, with the judge branding him a “deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobe”.

“An Islamophobe was sentenced to life in jail at Birmingham Crown Court today, for the brutal rape of a Sikh woman whom he believed to be Muslim”

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The attack took place in October 2025, after Ashby followed the victim off a bus and tracked her to her home in Walsall, in the West Midlands, where he entered the property carrying a stick he had picked up from the ground.

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At Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Justice Pepperall described Ashby as a “deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobe”, as reported by the BBC, and the sentencing hearing included the judge’s warning that “You pose an extreme danger to women and no reliable way to say how long you remain a danger,” according to Hindustan Times.

Prosecutors said Ashby assaulted the woman, striking her with the stick, attempting to strangle her, forcing her into the bathroom, and then raping her while shouting anti-Muslim abuse even though the victim repeatedly told him she was Sikh.

At the end of the ordeal, the assault ended when he appeared to be disturbed by a noise outside, after which he fled, taking jewellery and the victim’s mobile phone, with the BBC describing the attack as one that “struck fear” through communities in the West Midlands.

The BBC reported that the victim in her 20s “went to work, she did some shopping, she took public transport home, she was walking in a very well-lit area and she went back to her home,” before the attack.

Ashby admitted charges of rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault during the trial, and he has been told he must serve a minimum of 14 years before being considered for parole, according to The Times of India and Hindustan Times.

Multiple reports describe the same sequence of events leading to the rape, beginning with Ashby following the victim off a bus and continuing through the break-in and bathroom assault.

The BBC said the attack began when Ashby followed his victim, “a stranger to him,” off a bus and into her property, and it said he used a stick to beat the woman during the ordeal.

BBC

The Times of India reported that Ashby entered the property carrying a stick he had picked up from the ground, assaulted her by striking her with the stick and attempting to strangle her, and then forced her into the bathroom where he raped her.

The Independent similarly said jurors were told Ashby “shouted racist and anti-Muslim abuse as he beat the victim with a stick after following her off a bus and into her home,” and it reported that he barged into her bathroom, tried to strangle her and “racially and religiously abused her” throughout the ordeal.

Prosecutors told the court that Ashby forced the victim to climb into the bathtub, and the Liverpool Echo quoted the victim describing what he said during the attack: “He said 'I just want fun with you'. He said 'you are a f****** Muslim bitch, I said I am not a Muslim, I am a Sikh.”

Several accounts also describe the end of the assault as being triggered by a noise outside, with Hindustan Times reporting that 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.

After the attack, the victim raised the alarm and later identified Ashby in an identity parade, with The Times of India reporting officers arrived within minutes and that she identified him in an identity parade, and with Hindustan Times saying she picked him out at an identity parade days later.

The sentencing hearing featured direct language from the judge and prosecutors, alongside statements from the victim and community representatives about the impact of the attack.

“Racist stalked woman home then raped her because he 'thought she was Muslim' John Ashby, 32, followed the victim off a bus and pushed into her home with a stick in Walsall, the West Midlands, believing she was Muslim An "Islamophobe" who represents an "extreme danger to women" has been handed a life sentence for the religiously aggravated rape and abuse of a Sikh woman”

Daily Record

The judge, Mr Justice Pepperall, told Ashby: “I have no doubt that you are a very dangerous man,” and he added, “You pose an extreme danger to women and no reliable way to say how long you remain a danger,” according to Hindustan Times.

The CPS prosecutor Rav Dhillon described the attack as “This was a deeply disturbing attack driven by religious hatred, carried out against an innocent woman in her own home – where she had every right to be and feel safe,” and he said the CPS worked closely with West Midlands Police to present a robust case based on CCTV footage, DNA evidence and witness testimony.

The BBC quoted Sukhvinder Kaur, chair of trustees at Sikh Women’s Aid, describing the period after the violence as “terror and fear for her as a victim survivor, then us as the community that lives local to her”, and she said the community consensus was that “we were not safe on the streets.”

Kaur also said: “So women were asking the question 'where are we safe'?” and she connected the attack to “toxic narratives” around migration and immigration, saying “All of that played into the hatred that this perpetrator held against a community and the way in which he manifested that”.

The victim impact statements, as reported by the Hindustan Times and ThePrint, described how the assault changed her life and plans, with the victim saying: “Immediately after the incident, I knew I had to move house. I could not go back into the place I once called home,” and later adding, “I finally felt free” and no longer “trapped”.

The BBC also included a West Midlands Police statement after sentencing, saying: “We understand the impact this horrific attack had on communities in the West Midlands and beyond,” and it said the force “remain committed to doing everything we can to make women safer, and feel safer.”

Beyond the courtroom facts, The Guardian reported that Ashby “vented his misogyny online for all to see,” describing publicly available videos uploaded to YouTube in which Ashby rapped about hitting women.

The Guardian said the rapist, who was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years, was “sentenced this week to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years for a racially motivated sex attack on a Sikh woman,” and it described his online content as including clips of him listening to manosphere-adjacent motivational messages from Andrew Tate.

Gulte

The Guardian quoted Ashby’s lyrics, including: “I’d fight any bitch, don’t give a fuck. You cheeky bitch want to get slapped up, what?” and “Think I don’t hit girls, oh please, you’re a bitch and you’re getting slapped down.”

It also reported that Ashby’s attack took place in October last year and that during the ordeal he called the victim a “fucking Muslim bitch”, “dirty” and described himself as “the master”.

The Guardian further said that during a police interview Ashby answered “no comment” to all questions, apart from when he was shown a picture of the victim and said: “If she’s a Muslim, why isn’t she wearing a hijab?”

It added that in the custody suite he said: “You never see any Englishmen in Perry Barr any more.”

The Guardian’s reporting also included Tate’s audio as heard in videos Ashby appeared to have listened to, including: “The modern world, call me misogynistic, the modern world was built by men.”

The BBC framed the sentencing within a broader pattern of attacks in the West Midlands region, describing how communities asked “Where are we safe?” after the rape of a Sikh woman in her own home.

“UK man jailed for life for religiously aggravated rape of Sikh woman John Ashby, a British man arrested last October, had initially denied charges of sexual assault”

Hindustan Times

Sukhvinder Kaur told the BBC that the attack “struck fear” through communities in the West Midlands and that the violence was not isolated, saying the Walsall case was the second rape of a Sikh woman in the space of a few weeks in the region.

Hindustan Times

The BBC reported that “Just 10 miles (16km) away on 9 September, a woman in her 20s was raped on Tame Road in Oldbury,” and it said that attack sparked protests over the safety of women.

The BBC also reported that “Another woman was also assaulted with an electrical stun device in Wolverhampton on 27 October in what police said was a racially aggravated assault, although not a sexual one,” and it said West Midlands Police told the BBC that three people arrested in connection with the Oldbury rape remained on bail and the investigation was continuing.

After Ashby’s sentencing, the BBC included a West Midlands Police statement saying: “We will continue to speak and listen to women's charities, female community leaders, community safety partners, independent advisory groups and local politicians as that work continues.”

Kaur told the BBC that what happened in Walsall could not be separated from “toxic narratives” around migration and immigration, and she said: “There have been racially aggravated assaults still happening across communities, and we really have to look at the narrative that is being played out across society that is very divisive and looks to divide communities.”

She added: “If we see a rise in crimes like this it is going to really shake the foundations of what is a very vibrant and diverse community across the West Midlands.”