Russell Brand has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after being found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults. The 51-year-old appeared for sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday morning, having spent the weekend at HMP Wandsworth after being denied bail following the guilty verdicts the previous Thursday.
Convictions linked to incidents between 2004 and 2009
Brand was found guilty of raping a 21-year-old fan after meeting her at a 2009 stand-up show at the Hammersmith Apollo. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker during a forced massage in 2009, of sexually assaulting a Capital Radio worker after encountering her in a corridor in 2005, and of groping an MTV worker during a party at a Soho bar in 2004.
Jurors found him not guilty of going on to orally rape the MTV worker in a toilet. He was also cleared of trying to drag an MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001, and of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.
Court hears accounts of the victims
A four-week trial heard how Brand preyed on women 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. He claimed to have only ever had consensual sex during a "promiscuous" life, which he insisted had been packed with "idiocy" but never illegal.
His victims described 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 also gave 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.
The woman raped in 2009 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 her into anal sex. Another woman told the court 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, and recalled his "weird" grin as he carried out the assault. A third woman said Brand kissed and groped her during a visit to the Capital Radio studios in London in 2005, pouncing on her as she walked out of a room; she looked to his entourage for help but no one came to her aid before she pushed him away.
Family in court as sentence is passed
Brand's wife Laura Gallacher, daughter of Scots golfing legend Bernard Gallacher, was seen taking deep breaths and holding the hands of two women as she waited for the sentencing. Brand's father Ron was also sat near her. When Brand appeared in the glass dock, he mouthed "I love you" at Laura in the public gallery, and she repeated the sentiment back.
Further allegations under investigation
In the wake of his convictions, the Metropolitan Police revealed that Brand is currently under investigation over two further rape allegations. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said his officers are braced for "many, many more" possible victims of Brand to come forward, while Prime Minister Andy Burnham called Brand's crimes "horrifying".
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy warned there has not been enough change in media organisations to stop celebrities like Brand from preying on women. "We need far more robust processes in place to protect women like the women who bravely came forward in the Russell Brand case to make sure that they are protected and treated seriously," she said on Sunday. "Hand on heart, I don't think we can say that this couldn't happen today."
One of the comedian's former producers, Jack Bayles, who was accused of encouraging the 2009 forced massage, has been asked to "step back" from production of two BBC sitcoms by TV production company Various Artists Limited in the wake of the verdicts. Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman has called for a new legal duty on judges to direct juries on rape myths and misconceptions, if they have been ventured during a trial. The call came after Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, put forward arguments that the comedian could not be a rapist as his accusers had not screamed, fought back, or run away when they were being attacked.
After the guilty verdicts, Mr Winter was seen verbally abusing Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin in the courthouse corridor. Ms Urwin was one of the journalists who first exposed Brand as a sexual predator, and a centrepiece of Brand's defence case had been that media reporting had tainted the evidence in the criminal trial. Mr Winter announced on Friday that he has self-referred himself to the Bar Standards Board after seeing media reports of the incident at court.
