Russell Brand is set to discover how long he will spend behind bars after he was found guilty of one rape and three sexual assaults last week.
The disgraced comedian, 51, spent the weekend in custody and will be sentenced today, Monday, November 9, with the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, warning him on Thursday that he should expect a significant prison term.
Convictions and offences
After eight-and-a-half hours of deliberations, jurors unanimously convicted Brand of offences against four women between 2004 and 2009. They included the rape of a 21-year-old fan he met following a comedy gig at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009.
Brand was also convicted of sexually assaulting an MTV worker at a Soho bar, a woman at the Choice FM studios and a Channel 4 worker who had been forced to give him a massage. Prosecutors are also considering whether to charge Brand over allegations involving two further victims - a 16-year-old schoolgirl and a woman he dated when he was 30.
Acquittals and sentencing details
Brand denied all the allegations throughout the trial. He was cleared of raping a woman in a hotel in Bournemouth in 1999, during the Labour Party conference where Brand had been performing at a cabaret show.
The defendant was found not guilty of an attempted indecent assault offence when he was accused of grabbing a woman's arm and pulling her towards a toilet in 2001 in central London. He was also found not guilty of orally raping a woman in a toilet at a bar in London. The attack was alleged to have happened when they had been at a birthday party together in Soho.
He is scheduled to be sentenced today, Monday, November 9, 2026, at 10:30 GMT. The exact length of the sentence Brand is due to get today at Southwark Crown Court in London remains unknown. However, the maximum jail term for rape is life, while the maximum sentence for sexual assault is 10 years.
Background and aftermath
The offences took place as Brand's entertainment career was skyrocketing, becoming one of the country's best-known stand-up comedians, a TV and radio host and even a Hollywood movie star. In 2010, Brand also married Katy Perry but the couple filed for divorce the following year, with the singer describing the comedian as "controlling".
Brand's victims told Southwark Crown Court about how he forced them into sexual activity, sometimes within seconds of them first meeting. The sick comedian was determined to reach a goal of having sex with 5,000 women, the victims said, but he denied this.
Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, made a plea for the 51-year-old to be given bail over the weekend so that he could say goodbye to his children, but the judge refused this due to fears he would flee and not return for his sentencing.
When he was remanded into custody, Brand, who has been converting to Christianity over the past two years, replied "yes, my Lord". His wife, Laura Gallacher, was in court supporting Brand much of the four-week trial and was seen to hunch over in the public gallery as Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand that he now faces an inevitable and lengthy jail term.
Brand's outrageous behaviour came to light in September 2023, when an investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches published accusations from women who said they had been raped, sexual abused and degraded by Brand.
One of the journalists involved, The Sunday Times' Rosamund Urwin was met with a furious outburst from Brand's barrister outside the courtroom, minutes after his conviction on Thursday.
"I hope you are pleased with yourself," Ian Winter KC told her. Ms Urwin responded: "I'm pleased justice has been done," before Mr Winter said: "Well, it wasn't. You f***** it."
"Congratulations," he added. The barrister announced on Friday that he has referred himself to the Bar Standards Board.
