Topless photos Russell Brand 'forced woman to take' before alleged rape shown to jury
Topless photos Russell Brand 'forced woman to take' shown to jury

Jurors in the Russell Brand trial have been shown topless photographs which a woman claims the comedian made her take moments before allegedly raping her in a hotel room.

The images, released after being shown in court, depict Brand posing shirtless in white trousers and blowing a kiss towards the camera.

The woman alleges she took the photographs after inviting Brand to her Bournemouth hotel room following a chance meeting at a Labour Party conference in 1999.

Woman's account of the alleged attack

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court, she said she was already frightened by the time Brand asked her to photograph him.

"I took pictures of him on my camera. He made me take them", she told police in a recorded interview played to jurors.

"I was frightened. I remember feeling 'what on earth have I got myself into' – and then he did rape me."

The woman alleges that Brand later pushed her onto a bed and removed her trousers before raping her.

Brand, 51, denies all allegations against him and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.

Change in demeanour described

The complainant told jurors she initially thought Brand was gay and described him as "camp, friendly and effeminate" when they first met after his cabaret performance at the Labour Party conference.

She said she invited him back to her hotel room because she believed she was "sexually safe" with him.

But she told the court his demeanour changed dramatically once they were alone together.

"He just changed suddenly from this camp, friendly and effeminate to monster-like", she said.

"He was big, I felt threatened and he's half-naked. I didn't think at that point his intentions were good."

The woman said Brand removed his shirt and began "prancing around" the room, at one point performing exaggerated "goose steps" akin to Basil Fawlty.

In her police interview, she described freezing as Brand started displaying increasingly erratic behaviour.

She told officers she remembered him emerging from the bathroom topless before demanding that she take photographs of him.

The images shown to the jury capture Brand smiling and posing for the camera shortly before the alleged attack.

The complainant said she was too frightened to challenge him.

"I know he raped me, I know I said 'no, no, I don't want this'", she told the court during a tense cross-examination by Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC.

She added: "I did not want sex from him. I couldn't fight back."

The woman said she struggled to breathe when Brand was on top of her and felt unable to escape.

She told jurors she became "like a zombie on the bed" during the alleged attack and was simply waiting for it to end.

"All I could think was ... the quicker the better, really. I just wanted him out."

She also described feeling ashamed afterwards, saying she blamed herself for letting Brand into the room.

The court has previously heard the woman told police that Brand repeatedly tried to reassure her during the alleged rape, saying: "It's just fun", and insisting what was happening was "normal".

Brand also allegedly attempted to comfort her afterwards, writing down his email address and suggesting his mother might like to meet her.

Cross-examination and courtroom clash

Over the course of nearly two hours of heated cross-examination, Mr Winter accused the woman of not telling the truth about her encounter with Brand, and suggested she would have left the hotel room if she was in danger of being raped.

She said she was "terrified" as she complied with Brand's request that she photograph him, and baulked at the idea that she could have fled.

She asked: "Where am I supposed to go? Run into the night and him chase after me?

"Of course I wanted to distance myself but I had nowhere to run."

At one point, Mr Winter also clashed with the trial judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, who had to "shush" the barrister during a tense exchange in court.

The barrister was grilling the alleged victim on whether she said out loud that she did not want to have sex with Brand during the hotel encounter.

When the judge interjected to point out evidence the court had earlier heard on the video-recorded interview with police, Mr Winter said tersely: "Forgive me… I am conducting a cross-examination."

When the two legal figures then spoke at the same time, Mr Justice Bennathan said to the barrister: "Shush. I'm the judge."

At the close of the cross-examination, the woman referenced Brand's recent appearance on Piers Morgan's show "talking about shame and reputation", and told the court: "I am the one being silenced."

Faced with the suggestion that she wanted to have sex with Brand at the time, she added: "I can 100% tell you I did not consent, I did not find him attractive."

The trial continues.