A man has been jailed for life for a religiously motivated rape after he followed a Sikh woman home from a bus, broke into her house armed with a metre-long stick, and subjected her to a 24-minute attack in which he repeatedly called her a “fucking Muslim bitch” and declared himself “the master”.
Life sentence for ‘very dangerous individual’
John Ashby, 32, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 13 years and six months after changing his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial. He admitted rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault.
The judge, Mr Justice Pepperall, said the life term – rare for a single rape – was warranted because Ashby was “a very dangerous individual”, particularly towards women. He stressed that Ashby must serve every day of the minimum term before he can even be considered for release.
The court heard that Ashby, who was homeless at the time, had been discharged from a mental health hospital just three days before the attack, on 22 October 2025, after being treated for psychosis. The judge expressed serious concern that he was released without adequate after‑care arrangements, despite having punched a staff member and made threats to kill him on the day of his discharge.
Ashby has a string of previous convictions, including for carrying weapons, criminal damage, assault, battery, theft, drug possession, harassment and breach of a restraining order. While detained, he was reported to have been violent, threatening, abusive and racist, and to have continued abusing drugs. Weeks before the rape, he had allegedly racially abused hospital staff.
The Crown Prosecution Service said this is the only case on record in England and Wales of someone being convicted for a religiously motivated rape. The case was built on multiple strands of evidence, including CCTV footage showing Ashby following the woman, his fingerprints and DNA at the scene, and the victim’s identification of him.
The attack
On the evening of 25 October 2025, Ashby spotted the woman on a bus from Walsall town centre and decided to follow her. She arrived at her home just before 6.30pm and was in the bathroom when Ashby broke in. He was armed with a metre‑long stick.
During the prolonged assault, Ashby made the woman undress, beat her, strangled her and raped her. He repeatedly referred to his own “whiteness and Britishness” and told her he was the master. Even after she told him she was Sikh, he continued to call her a “fucking Muslim bitch”, wrongly believing her to be Muslim. He forced her to repeat the abuse back to him, made her sit in a bath while he poured water over her, and ordered her to say the word “hallelujah”.
The judge described the details as exposing “additional degradation and humiliation”, noting that Ashby pulled the woman back after she tried to escape. The victim called 999 during the ordeal, and her “howls of anguish” were audible on the call, according to senior crown prosecutor Rav Dhillon, who said Ashby was “clearly filled with so much hatred”.
After his arrest, Ashby – who was staying in Perry Barr, Birmingham – told officers: “You never see any Englishmen in Perry Barr any more.” The court also heard that Ashby changed his plea about an hour after a member of the public approached the dock and shouted at him to “sort your shit out”.
Victim’s bravery and impact
The woman, who has legal anonymity, delivered a victim impact statement in which she described how the attack had “changed every part of my life”. She said she felt lost, struggled to recognise herself, and that her sense of safety had been taken away. She suffers flashbacks and anxiety, is scared by every noise, and when alone in her home she locks herself in her room. She has quit her job and stays indoors.
She has not told her family about the attack, fearing they would feel guilty for allowing her to come to the United Kingdom from India two years ago. Despite her distress, she said she was determined to testify: “I knew I would have to relive and go through the horrendous incident again, but I was willing to do it, to show that I would no longer let this person and incident control my life. I wanted to face the person who had done this to me, see him eye to eye.”
The woman cried during the sentencing hearing, but the judge praised her courage: “I have nothing but admiration for your bravery.”
Dabinderjit Singh of the Sikh Federation (UK) said 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”. He also called on the government to do more to tackle anti‑Sikh hate. Sikh Women’s Aid, which supported the woman, described her as an “exceptionally brave survivor whose strength, dignity and resilience have been extraordinary”.
The offence of religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm, to which Ashby admitted, falls under Section 29(1)(b) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – legislation that allows courts to impose higher maximum sentences than for basic assault when racial or religious hostility is proven. The judge said the life sentence was justified by Ashby’s dangerousness, a finding that underlines the rarity of such a penalty for a single rape.
