Russell Brand, 51, will be sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court after being found guilty of rape and three counts of sexual assault last Thursday. In written submissions, his defence argued that the rape incident at Brand's Hampstead home in 2009 involved "no planning" or "pre-meditation". Ian Winter KC said it should only be "regarded as a man who went too far".
Mr Justice Bennathan interjected, noting there had been no suggestion of pre-meditation to the rape. Brand was convicted by the jury of raping a 21-year-old fan in 2009, after meeting her following one of his stand-up shows at the Hammersmith Apollo.
Details of the offences
The woman told jurors she was a huge Brand fan and had willingly engaged in a threesome with him backstage despite having a boyfriend at the time. She agreed to go to Brand's Hampstead home for sex a few days later, but a consensual encounter turned into rape when the comedian suddenly forced the woman into anal sex.
Ian Winter KC also urged the judge to find that Brand did not humiliate or degrade the rape victim by forcing her to shower and brush her teeth before sex. He argued that Brand had made the requests for a good reason, as he is a recovering alcoholic. "Whilst plainly unattractive behaviour on the part of Mr Brand, it is not entirely surprising that an ex-alcoholic might prefer not to smell alcohol on an intimate partner's breath in circumstances where sexual activity was very much expected and intended to follow."
He urged the judge to find that Brand had been "inconsiderate" by leaving quickly afterwards to attend a stand-up show he was due to perform, rather than construing this as an aggravating factor intended to degrade the victim.
Mitigation and impact
Brand's barrister said a woman whose breasts were groped by the celebrity at a Soho bar in 2004 was "not particularly vulnerable". Ian Winter KC told the court: "She was not particularly vulnerable at all. Being tipsy is not something that gave rise to vulnerability and there's no evidence the defendant knew she was tipsy so to be vulnerable." He said the incident falls at the bottom of culpability under sentencing guidelines as it was a "very, very short incident".
Ian Winter KC told the court Brand's wife Laura Gallacher is "standing by him". He said: "Words are completely inadequate… to convey the total devastation she's experiencing. They are wrestling with how to explain to a child who's just turned 10 what has just happened here and the consequences of this conduct to totally innocent people who have been caught up in it."
Context of fame
Russell Brand's crimes were connected and the consequence of the level of fame he was acquiring, the court has heard. His defence barrister told Southwark Crown Court that it took place as "he started to become very famous and then extraordinarily famous, and we would invite your lordship to conclude that his behaviour for these offences are connected and the consequence of that level of fame." He pointed out that the final offence "happened very shortly after he met Katy Perry".
A four-week trial heard how Brand preyed on women that he encountered on his way to becoming one of Britain's best-known comedians, a lauded TV and radio host, and a Hollywood actor who was briefly married to singer Katy Perry. Another woman told the court how her breasts were groped by Brand in the Nordic bar in Soho, just seconds after she had been introduced to him at a 2004 party. She recalled Brand's "weird" grin as he carried out the sexual assault. In 2005, Brand kissed and groped a third woman during a visit to the Capital Radio studios in London, pouncing on her as she walked out of a room.
Brand was also convicted of putting his head into the groin of a female Channel 4 worker, after she had been forced to give him a massage in 2009. Brand denied all the charges and claimed to have only ever had consensual sex during a "promiscuous" life, which he insisted had been packed with "idiocy" but never illegal.
