Man pleads guilty to religiously aggravated rape

PA Media

A man has pleaded guilty to the religiously aggravated rape and assault of a Sikh woman in her home in Walsall.

The trial of John Ashby, 32, of no fixed address, began at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.

He had denied the charges against him, but on Tuesday admitted he was responsible for the attack in October 2025.

Ashby was arrested in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham two days after he struck, following the woman as she got off a bus and then into her property, armed with a stick he picked up from the ground.

At the opening of the case, the jury heard how Ashby raped the woman - a stranger - in her bathroom, with the woman initially oblivious to the fact she had been followed.

On hearing a noise in her home, however, she attempted to lock herself in the bathroom, but Ashby barged in.

"Once inside the bathroom he turned the light off, telling her that he was 'here to have fun'," prosecutor Phil Bradley KC told the jury.

The court heard that during her ordeal, Ashby subjected his victim to a tirade of anti-Muslim abuse, wrongly believing her to be of that faith.

"Despite her screams, he told her to take her clothes off, he struck her with the stick, and he put his hands around her neck to strangle her and demanded that she climb into the bathtub," Bradley said.

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

The court heard that Ashby told the woman his name was John and demanded she repeat "his mantra that he was the 'master'."

Prosecutors said that after raping the woman, Ashby instructed her to go into the bedroom and lie on the bed, saying again he was there "to have fun" while referring to his private parts as being white British.

The court heard 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 jury was told that that the woman raised the alarm and police arrived within minutes.

The woman picked Ashby out as her attacker at an identity parade days later, the court heard.

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