A man who brutally raped a Sikh woman, whom he mistakenly thought was Muslim, in a racially charged incident, was recently discharged from a mental health facility without adequate follow-up support, it was revealed today.

John Ashby has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 14 years behind bars, for the brutal assault on a woman in her home in Walsall, West Midlands, which occurred on October 25 of last year.

During the trial, the court heard that Ashby, 32, raped the woman—a complete stranger—after forcing her into her bathroom and demanding she undress, all while declaring himself a ‘British master’. He was later found to have cocaine in his system.

The court was informed during his sentencing that he had been committed to Meadowcroft Hospital in Birmingham in mid-September last year. However, he was released a month later after specialists determined he was no longer experiencing psychosis.

According to his defense lawyer, Michelle Heeley KC, Ashby received no follow-up care and was left homeless, living on the streets after his release.

Justice Pepperall emphasized the legal obligation to provide a care plan after a ‘section three detention’ under the mental health laws.

Following the hearing, a spokesman for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘Mr Ashby had a care plan whilst under our care and our last contact with Mr Ashby was when he was discharged from our care to police custody’.

Ashby previously changed his plea to guilty midway through his trial at Birmingham Crown Court to admit rape, intentional strangulation, religiously aggravated assault and robbery against the woman.

He had first spotted his victim 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.

Ashby ‘racially and religiously abused her’ during the attack, calling her a ‘f***ing Muslim b****’ and telling her she was dirty, the court previously heard.

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

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

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Pepperall told Ashby that remarks made during the offending ‘reveal you as a deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobe’.

The judge added: ‘You raped this woman after you forced your way uninvited into her home.

‘You held her against her will as you sexually and physically assaulted her for at least 24 minutes.’

After sentence was passed, the judge addressed the victim and her partner, who were sitting in the public gallery, telling them: ‘I have nothing but admiration for your bravery. I hope that with time, love and support you are able to rebuild your lives.’

It emerged today Ashby had also targeted another woman shortly after he was discharged from hospital last October.

He grabbed a woman in the street, but passersby were able to intervene before he could do any harm to her, the court heard. Ashby said at the time he was ‘sexually frustrated’.

The defendant was said to have 10 previous convictions for 18 offences, two of which were for violence, seven were against property and one for having an offensive weapon.

His sentencing on Friday had to be halted at one stage after his victim, who was in court to watch him be jailed, suffered a panic attack.

In a victim personal statement, read into the court record by a barrister, the woman, who is aged in her 20s, said: ‘What happened to me has changed every part of my life.

‘Before the incident life was great. I was enjoying life. Now following the incident my life has drastically changed. I feel like that version of myself has been stripped away by a complete stranger with no explanation as to why.

‘I feel lost and I struggle to recognise myself.’

The victim, who was also present in court when Ashby changed his pleas, added: ‘It took everything in my being to come to court. But I knew I needed to get justice, the justice I deserve and closure on the ordeal I went through.’

Saying she was ‘finally free’ after watching Ashby admit his guilt, the woman continued: ‘I now no longer feel trapped. I can begin to live my life again.’

The Sikh Federation (UK) welcomed the life sentence.

Dabinderjit Singh OBE, a lead executive at the federation, said: ‘Justice Pepperall has shown courage by handing down a life sentence to racist John Ashby that matches his crime. He described him as a very dangerous man.’

He also said the sentence would send ‘a strong signal to all racists that carry out violent attacks’ and expressed hope it would ‘help the victim through this trauma’.

The court had previously heard the woman’s screams which were captured on horrifying footage from a nearby CCTV camera as Ashby attacked her in her home.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Monday, Phil Bradley KC said 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.’

The defendant declared he was ‘here to have fun’ and ordered the victim to undress while striking her with the stick.

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

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.’