Outrage as “white British master” rapist John Ashby avoids front pages

Journalist Sangita Myska and former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf were among those enraged by the rape and Islamophobic abuse of a Sikh woman, whom her white supremacist attacker, John Ashby, wrongly assumed to be Muslim, as well as the lack of mainstream accountability for him.

John Ashby: where’s the coverage?

Yousaf said the attack in Walsall, which took place last year, did not happen in a vacuum, arguing that this is what happens when hate is mainstreamed and when “cowards in suits pretend their words have no consequences.”

“Bloody Muslim bitch.”

That is what John Ashby shouted at his victim as he raped her

And while doing it screamed anti-Muslim abuse

This did not happen in a vacuumthe

This is what happens when hate is mainstreamed

When cowards in suits pretend their words have no consequences pic.twitter.com/C0LAcEGWU0

— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) April 21, 2026

Myska decried the lack of coverage of the crime on front pages and the ” hateful rhetoric pumped out online and normalised by hard right politicians.”

This is John Ashby, the racist monster who raped a Sikh woman because he believed her to be Muslim. This image should be on the front page of every newspaper and online platform. His actions will have been fuelled by the hateful rhetoric pumped out online and normalised by hard… pic.twitter.com/e4yWBSKLEp

— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) April 21, 2026

Narinder Kaur, broadcaster & social commentator, also asked why there was “no mainstream TV channel covering” the crime and trial.

I’m wondering why no mainstream TV channel are covering this? Or where the protests are ?
A Sikh woman was followed home and raped in a racially motivated attack because the predator thought she was Muslim.

The problem is men not religion. pic.twitter.com/t8PBXKbBL1

— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) April 21, 2026

In October 2025, in Walsall, John Ashby followed a Sikh woman home after she got off a bus. Armed with a two‑foot stick he picked up from the ground, he entered her property without her knowledge.

The Mirror reported that Ashby shouted “Bloody Muslim bitch” at his victim during the rape. The woman told him she was Sikh, but he did not care.

The BBC reported that Ashby ordered his victim to call him “the master.” After raping her, he made her lie on the bed and said he was there “to have fun,” while describing his genitals as “white British.”

He is going to be sentenced on Friday, April 24.

Featured image via the Canary