A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and religiously aggravated assault of a Sikh woman, a court announced.

John Ashby will serve a minimum of 14 years in prison before being eligible for parole, according to the sentencing judge. The attack was classified as religiously aggravated, indicating the victim was targeted based on her Sikh faith.

The court proceedings concluded with the life sentence, though specific details about the circumstances of the attack or the trial proceedings were not immediately disclosed. Religious hate crimes carry enhanced penalties under UK law when prosecutors can demonstrate the offense was motivated by hostility toward the victim's religion.

The case represents one of several recent prosecutions for religiously motivated crimes in the UK, where attacks targeting individuals based on their faith or religious appearance have drawn increased attention from law enforcement and the courts.