Russell Brand's wife Laura Gallacher said "oh God" as her husband walked into the dock and then said "I love you" after he turned around to face her. The disgraced celebrity mouthed words to his wife from the dock, before identifying himself to the court as the sentencing got under way.
Brand said "It'll be OK, I don't know how, but it will" to his wife as he looked at his family and friends sitting behind him in the public gallery. Brand and his wife also nodded to each other as the judge outlined how the sentencing would unfold.
Brand clutches crucifix during proceedings
Brand winked and then nodded at his wife and members of his entourage while clutching a crucifix in his hands before a lunch break was taken ahead of the judge passing sentence.
During his sentencing, Brand held a crucifix, performing a cross with his hand and saying a prayer as one of his victims entered court to deliver a victim impact statement. The judge will pass sentence today, after telling the shamed star to expect a "significant" jail term following the jury's verdict last week.
Convictions for rape and sexual assault
Last week the former comedian and actor was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court for raping a woman in 2009, as well as sexually assaulting female TV and radio workers between 2004 and 2009. He was found not guilty of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, and not guilty of trying to drag a MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001.
During a four-week trial, the court heard how Brand preyed on women that he encountered on his way to becoming one of the UK's best-known comedians, a lauded TV and radio host, and a Hollywood actor. Brand has spent the last four nights in HMP Wandsworth, before being brought back to court on Monday to be sentenced by Mr Justice Bennathan.
Victim impact statement read to court
One of the women who shared their victim impact statement was a Channel 4 worker who was sexually assaulted by Brand. She said the attack was 'brushed under the carpet' by her bosses. The woman was targeted by Brand during a recording session in 2009, when she was forced by the comedian's entourage to give him a massage.
After she reluctantly agreed to keep the session going, Brand knelt down and thrust his head into her groin. The woman said in a victim impact statement read to Southwark Crown Court that she felt "powerless" and was left "really upset" in the aftermath of the incident. Turning her complaint to Channel 4 bosses, she said: "Immediately after the incident I spoke up, and sadly it was brushed under the carpet by senior management. This really affected me and had something similar happened again, at the time, I know I would not have had the confidence to speak up again."
She added: "There was a culture, at the time, which meant I felt I had to just carry on and not talk about it anymore. Which meant I did not give myself time to lament on it, boxed it up and pushed it aside."
Evidence of sexual ambition
Brand claimed to have only ever had consensual sex during a "promiscuous" life, which he insisted had been packed with "idiocy" but never illegal. But his victims have told a story of a famous and powerful man who kissed and groped women within seconds of meeting them, pursued his sexual ambitions relentlessly, and laughed at and gaslit women after the attacks.
Friends and former colleagues of Brand also came forward to give evidence of his ambition to sleep with 5,000 women, an "insane" sexual appetite, and his bad behaviour towards women being "normalised" as he became increasingly famous.
