Man admits rape and religiously aggravated abuse of Sikh woman

A man has admitted he raped a Sikh woman in her home while subjecting her to a tirade of religiously aggravated abuse, changing his plea on the second day of his trial after facing verbal abuse in the dock. The hearing for 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 Walsall in October 2025. He asked to speak to his barrister about an hour after proceedings were interrupted by a member of the public who approached the dock and swore at the accused. The court was told that during the attack, Ashby subjected his victim to a stream of Islamophobic abuse, wrongly believing her to be a Muslim. The woman's ordeal began last autumn when Ashby followed her as she got off a bus. Unbeknown to her, he entered her property armed with a two-foot stick he had picked up from the ground. At the opening of the case, the jury was told how on hearing a noise inside her home, the woman - a stranger to Ashby - tried to lock herself in the bathroom, but he barged his way in and went on to rape her. "Once inside the bathroom he turned the light off, telling her that he wa