Man charged after Park Hall rape and assault in Walsall

A 32-year-old man has been charged after a woman in her 20s was allegedly raped and assaulted in the Park Hall area of Walsall on Saturday evening, October 25, West Midlands Police said. The suspect was arrested in the Perry Barr area early on Monday, October 27, and charged with multiple offences before appearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Wednesday, October 29.

Police were called shortly after 7.15pm on October 25 after a woman was reported to be distressed in the street and said she had been raped and assaulted at a nearby property, authorities said. Officers released CCTV footage as part of an appeal for information and asked anyone with dashcam, CCTV or phone footage to contact them. The arrest was made following those appeals, the force said.

Court papers and police statements said the man, identified as John Ashby, 32, has been charged with a range of offences that include sexual assault and charges described at his first hearing as intentional penetration without consent, intentional touching without consent, strangulation, robbery of a mobile phone and jewellery, and religiously aggravated actual bodily harm. Police described the incident as racially aggravated....