A racist predator has pleaded guilty to the rape of a Sikh woman whom he mistook to be Muslim during a religiously motivated attack in her own home.
John Ashby, 32, today changed his plea midway through trial at Birmingham Crown Court to admit rape, intentional strangulation, religiously aggravated assault and robbery against the woman in Walsall, West Midlands, in October last year.
He now faces being jailed for life when he is sentenced on Friday.
Ashby first spotted the woman on a bus and stalked her back to her home, where he armed himself with a stick, broke inside and subjected her to a horrific assault.
Opening the case for the prosecution on Monday, Phil Bradley KC said Ashby ‘racially and religiously abused her’ during the attack, calling her a ‘f***ing Muslim b****’ and telling her she was dirty.
The victim’s screams could be heard on horrifying footage captured by a nearby CCTV camera, which was played to the court on Monday.
She told the first officers to arrive on the scene: ‘He called me a f***ing Muslim b****. I said I am not Muslim, I am Sikh. He was saying that he was a British master.’
Ashby changed his plea after a dramatic day in court which had seen him angrily confronted in the dock by a member of the Sikh community.
As the jury was played the victim’s video interview with the police, Ashby was thought to have muttered, ‘bulls***’ and was then angrily confronted by the man, who had been sitting in the public gallery.
The elderly man approached the dock, called Ashby a ‘nonce’ and told him ‘sort your s*** out’ before the usher marched him out of the courtroom.
Mr Justice Pepperall, who later praised the usher for his prompt response, told the jurors to take an early lunch and ordered that the man not be allowed back into court.
Ashby first spotted the woman on a bus and stalked her back to her home
The predator then armed himself with a stick before breaking into his victim’s property and raping her
John Ashby, 32, pleaded guilty to the rape of a Sikh woman whom he mistook to be Muslim during a religiously motivated attack in her own home
The trial was again abruptly halted 10 minutes into the afternoon session when Ashby’s barrister Michelle Heeley KC indicated that he wished to speak with her.
After a 30 minute break, during which the victim and her partner entered the courtroom, Ashby re-entered the dock and pleaded guilty to all four counts against him.
The trial heard that Ashby raped the woman in the bathroom of her home before ordering her into the bedroom, where she attempted to make a run for the front door, but was caught and ‘dragged’ back inside.
Ashby was eventually ‘spooked’ by a noise outside which the victim said was her partner, prompting him to flee with some of her jewellery and a mobile phone, the prosecutor said.
Mr Bradley said ‘there can be no doubt’ that Ashby was the man responsible for the attack on October 25 last year.
His DNA was retrieved from an intimate swab of the victim, his fingerprints were found on a vape which he left in the house before fleeing and his DNA was also found on a toothbrush he used in the bathroom, the court heard.
Ashby was arrested in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham two days after the attack and was subsequently picked out by the victim in a police identity parade, the court heard.
Mr Bradley told the court: ‘When he was booked into custody, (Ashby) told police “you never see any English men in Perry Barr anymore”.
‘He otherwise answered “no comment” to all police questions except, when shown a photograph of (the victim), he asked why she wasn’t wearing a hjab and added: “I don’t know who that woman is as far as I’m aware.”‘
The court heard that on the day of the attack, the woman had boarded a bus in Walsall town centre at around 6.15pm on her way home for work.
Ashby had boarded the same bus a few minutes earlier and moved down to the lower deck where the victim was sitting, the prosecutor said.
‘A complete stranger to (the victim), John Ashby was nevertheless interested in her and had already targeted her,’ Mr Bradley told the court.
‘We know that because within seconds of her getting off the bus at just after 6.30pm to begin the short walk home, he began to following her.’
Ashby was caught on CCTV walking past her address before he ‘quickly about-turned’ and was seen on the driveway of a property at the back of her home ‘doubtless assessing how he could get into her address’.
It was at this point he picked up a stick and placed it inside his jacket.
The victim had gone into her upstairs bathroom when she heard a noise in the house and rushed to lock the door, thinking it was a housemate returning.
‘However, she was too late and the defendant barged his way in,’ the prosecutor said.
‘And so, (the victim’s) ordeal began.’
Chilling CCTV showed Ashby following the woman all the way from the bus stop to her home
After an ordeal lasting more than 20 minutes, he fled the scene while the screams of his victim filled the air
The defendant declared he was ‘here to have fun’ and ordered the victim to undress while striking her with the stick.
He then put his hands around her neck to strangle her, the court heard.
During the sexual assault that followed, Ashby told the woman he was the ‘master’ and she was a ‘f***ing b****’, as well as ordering her to say ‘hallelujah’ as he poured water over her.
At one point, he told the woman his name was John and asked which toothbrush was hers because he wanted to brush his teeth, the court heard.
The woman immediately raised the alarm with neighbours after escaping her attacker’s clutches, ‘naked and thoroughly distressed’, the prosecutor said.
The jury were shown police bodycam footage taken after officers were called to the house in Walsall within minutes of the attack.
The victim was shown screaming hysterically and slapping her legs as she described what had happened to her.
She said: ‘He called me a f***ing Muslim b****. I said I am not Muslim, I am Sikh. He was saying that he was a British master.’
In a police interview that was played to the jury, the woman told investigators that Ashby had made her repeatedly tell him that he was a master and she was a b**** during the ordeal.
When Ashby said he wanted to go downstairs, the woman took the opportunity to open the front door and start screaming at the top of her lungs.
She said, ‘He came behind me and closed the door and then he started slapping me to the face.
‘I told him my husband was coming and he took my phone and ran off.’
The victim had been due to enter the witness box to give evidence against Ashby when he entered his guilty pleas.
Mr Justice Pepperall told Ashby that he would be sentenced on Friday.
He said: ‘To break into a woman’s house and commit the offences you have on the basis of her presumed religion makes you a very dangerous individual and the court must have in mind whether a life sentence is suitable.’
