British man jailed for life for religious aggravation of Sikh woman

British man John Ashby, who was arrested days after the attack that sent shockwaves through the West Midlands community last October, initially denied charges of sexual assault, strangulation, racially grievous actual bodily harm and robbery before admitting the offences.

He has now been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 14 years to be considered for parole.

The judge described Ashby as “a deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobic” after the court heard he launched into an anti-Muslim rant at the woman during the attack.

“I have no doubt you are a very dangerous man,” Judge Pepperall told him at the sentencing hearing.

“You pose a significant risk to women and there is no reliable way of saying how long your risk will last,” he said.

Judge Pepperall detailed some of the aggravating factors that led to Ashby’s life sentence, including Ashby’s drug use, previous criminal behavior, the use of a stick as a weapon and the “serious psychological harm” his actions had caused to the victim, who was targeted in his own home, the BBC court reported.

During the trial earlier this week, the jury heard how Ashby followed the victim, who was in her 20s, from a bus stop to her home.

Later, CCTV footage showed that he had been on the same bus as her on October 25 last year. He went on to hurl a tirade of anti-Muslim insults at her, wrongly assuming she held that faith.

In an impact statement read in court on Friday, the victim, who is protected by law and remains anonymous, revealed how the attack had changed every aspect of her life.

“After the incident, I knew immediately that I had to move. I could not return to the place I once called home,” she said in the statement.

The court heard she and her partner were to get married in January before her life was “completely changed” by the attack.

“I feel like that version has been taken away from me without any explanation. I feel lost,” she said.

The victim, who was visibly upset in court during the sentencing hearing after her attacker pleaded guilty, said she “finally felt free” and no longer “trapped”.

“I know he can never get close to me or hurt me again…I refuse to let this define me and stop me from living a full life,” she added.

Earlier, the court heard the attack ended when Ashby was “apparently frightened by the noise outside” and ran away, taking the victim’s jewelery and mobile phone.

The woman raised the alarm before police arrived and identified her attacker during an identification parade days later.

In a video interview played in court this week, the victim told police the attacker had a stick in his hand and was hurling abuse at her.

According to local media in Birmingham, Ashby’s guilty plea came after a heated outburst from a member of the Sikh community in the public gallery at an earlier hearing.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.