- Ashby faces sentencing on Friday (24); judge warns life sentence is being considered
- He admitted rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault
- During a police interview, Ashby asked why the victim was not wearing a hijab
A MAN has admitted raping a Sikh woman in her home while subjecting her to a sustained tirade of religiously aggravated abuse, changing his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the BBC reported.
John Ashby, 32, of no fixed address, had previously denied all charges relating to the attack in Walsall in October 2025. He reversed course on Tuesday (21) after asking to speak with his barrister — roughly an hour after proceedings were disrupted when a member of the public approached the dock and swore at the defendant.
The outburst followed Ashby mumbling in the dock as the prosecution outlined its case. The court heard that the woman's ordeal began when Ashby followed her home after she stepped off a bus. Without her knowledge, he entered her property carrying a stick he had picked up from the ground.
When she heard a noise inside her home, she attempted to lock herself in the bathroom, but Ashby forced his way in and raped her.
Prosecutor Phil Bradley KC told the jury that once inside the bathroom, Ashby switched off the light and told the woman, a complete stranger to him, that he was "here to have fun."
"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. Ashby then turned on the hot tap and poured water over the woman, ordering her to say "hallelujah" as he did so.
The court heard that throughout the assault, Ashby subjected his victim to anti-Muslim abuse — wrongly believing her to be of that faith — and demanded she repeat what he called his mantra: that he was "the master." After the rape, he instructed the woman to go to the bedroom, again telling her he was there "to have fun."
The attack ended only because Ashby appeared to be startled by a noise outside, the court was told, at which point he fled the property, taking the victim's jewellery and mobile phone with him.
Police arrived within minutes of the woman raising the alarm. Ashby was arrested two days later in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham.
During a police interview, when shown a photograph of the victim and asked if he recognised her, he asked why she was not wearing a hijab. When booked into custody, he remarked that there were "no Englishmen in Perry Barr anymore."
Ashby pleaded guilty to rape, robbery, intentional strangulation and religiously aggravated assault. He is due to be sentenced on Friday (24), when Justice Pepperall warned him the court was considering the imposition of a life sentence.
"He should be under no illusion that a life sentence is the right sentence in this case... anybody who commits these offences in these circumstances is a very dangerous individual," the judge was quoted as saying.
According to local media reports from Birmingham, Ashby's guilty plea followed a heated outburst from a member of the Sikh community in the public gallery during the hearing.
(with inputs from PTI)
