Russell Brand is spending his first night in a cell after being convicted of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women during his career as a comedian and actor. The 51-year-old was found guilty on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Brand, who became one of Britain's best-known stand-up comedians, a TV and radio host, and a Hollywood movie star, was accused of forcing women into sexual activity, sometimes within seconds of meeting them. His victims testified that he used his fame to pursue his goal of having sex with 5,000 women.
Verdict and Remand
The jury cleared Brand of two further charges of rape and one allegation of attempted indecent assault. He will spend the weekend in custody before returning to the same court on Monday to learn his prison sentence.
His wife, Laura Gallacher, who attended much of the trial, was seen to hunch over in the public gallery as Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand he faces an inevitable and lengthy jail term. Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, lost his plea for bail over the weekend as an "act of humanity" so Brand could say goodbye to his children. The judge refused the request over fears Brand would flee.
Details of the Attacks
Brand loudly replied "yes My Lord" when he was remanded into custody, just over three years after he was first exposed as a rapist and sexual predator. The Met has confirmed investigations are ongoing into two allegations of rape made against Brand.
At pre-trial hearings, it was revealed one of the complaints comes from a woman who dated Brand when he was 30 and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl. In 2004, shortly after he started hosting Big Brother's Big Mouth, Brand sexually assaulted a woman in the Nordic bar in Soho, central London, by grabbing her breasts during a party of his former MTV colleagues. She accused him of dragging her to the men's toilets and orally raping her, but the jury found him not guilty on that count.
A worker at Capital Radio said Brand forced himself on her during a visit to the station in 2005, pinning her to a wall while he groped and "sloppily" kissed her. Brand was found guilty of sexually assaulting her. The victim told jurors that members of his entourage laughed as they saw the attack happen.
Brand was also convicted of anally raping a 21-year-old superfan in his £2.3 million Hampstead townhouse in 2009, days after meeting her at one of his Hammersmith Apollo shows. The same year, during a recording session at Channel 4, Brand sexually assaulted another woman by thrusting his head into her groin after she was told to give him a massage.
Investigation and Aftermath
In September 2023, an investigation by journalists from The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches published accusations from women who said they had been raped, sexually abused, and degraded by Brand. The revelations prompted four women to come forward to accuse Brand of criminal offences, while another two women came forward once Brand had been charged.
