British man charged with rape of Indian-origin woman

A man arrested on suspicion of the racially aggravated sexual assault of an Indian-origin woman in Walsall has been charged with rape and appeared before Birmingham Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The West Midlands Police said John Ashby, “who is a white British man aged 32 from Stockland Green”, was charged on Tuesday evening.

The rape charge comes after a woman in her 20s, identified locally as a Sikh student, was attacked in the Park Hall area of Walsall on Saturday night. “He was also charged with sexual assault, strangulation, racially aggravated actual bodily harm and robbery,” the police said.

Detective Superintendent Ronan Tyrer from the West Midlands Police Public Protection Unit, who is leading the investigation, said the woman who was the subject of the attack had been informed of the charging decision.

Chief Superintendent Phil Dolby from the Walsall Police said his team would continue their patrols and conversations in the neighbourhood, which had been shaken up by the attack.