Russell Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault on Thursday after a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. The former entertainer was found not guilty of two other counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The jury took eight-and-a-half hours of deliberation to reach their verdict. Brand, 51, was refused bail and will spend the weekend in custody before he is due to be sentenced on Monday.
Labour Leaders Once Praised Brand
At the height of his fame, Brand was beloved by Left-wing politicians and champagne socialists. When current Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was leading the Labour Party fighting the 2015 election campaign, he agreed to a cosy interview with the now disgraced comedian in Brand's £2 million London penthouse.
A year earlier, the former shadow health secretary now Prime Minister Andy Burnham gushed over Brand using his celebrity status to "help others". Both politicians appeared to back Brand, who modelled himself as an anti-Tory and anti-establishment figure, who was also openly misogynistic and, as it has now been proved, a danger to women.
Left's Embrace After 'Sachsgate'
The Left's desire to use Brand's edgy persona in pursuit of votes appears even more bizarre as it happened after the infamous 2008 'Sachsgate' affair when Brand, on his BBC Radio 2 show, left voicemails for beloved Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs boasting how he had slept with his granddaughter.
The left-wing newspaper The Guardian venerated Brand as someone who could potentially "win it for Labour". The newspaper serialised Brand's 2007 memoir, My Booky Wook, where he wrote about a "victim list" of women in his bid to sleep with 5,000 females. In a chilling passage given this week's verdict, Brand penned a list of women he had "wronged as a result of my sexual addiction".
Police Encourage Other Victims to Come Forward
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force is encouraging anybody else to come forward if there are any other allegations after Russell Brand was convicted of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women. Sir Mark told Times Radio: "Every case like this depends on brave victim survivors who are prepared to step forward and tell their story to police officers and tell their story to a court when you've had something so intrusive and awful happen that that really shows real bravery and determination, and you have to admire that."
He added: "I'm proud of our officers and the support they've offered them and the case they've built. They've spoken to 100 witnesses. They've taken 400 statements. It's a sizeable investigation. As you've heard, there's two more rape allegations that we're looking at. We're encouraging anybody else to come forward if there's any other allegations."
Sir Mark also noted: "The wider point I would make: this looks at one hand it's a celebrity, but most sex offending is where someone of power exploits that with someone who is less powerful themselves. It might be an uncle, it might be a teacher, it might be a vicar. Could be a whole range of different situations. And what cases like this show is, it doesn't matter how powerful the person is, we will support you, and we will try and bring down the person who did something ghastly to you."
