Brand faces ‘significant’ jail term for rape and sexual assault
A judge has told Russell Brand he faces a lengthy prison term after being convicted of one count of rape and three sexual assaults involving four women.
Comedian Russell Brand faces a lengthy jail term after being convicted in a London court of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three more.
Brand, known for his loquacious manner and flamboyant appearance, had denied all the charges, saying the incidents, which dated back more than 20 years, had either been consensual, reinvented or re-imagined.
The 51-year-old was once one of Britain’s most high-profile broadcasters, is the former husband of US singer Katy Perry and starred in the films Get Him to the Greek and Arthur.
But prosecutors described him as a ruthless sexual predator.
Brand was convicted at London’s Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three sexual assaults. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault.
The jury had deliberated for eight and a half hours.
Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand would be sentenced on Monday and faced a lengthy prison term.
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Separately, it was revealed that Brand could face further action as police investigate two new alleged rapes, one involving a then 16-year-old girl.
Brand, who told his wife Laura “I love you” after entering the dock, displayed no emotion as the jury delivered its verdicts at the end of a trial that lasted nearly four weeks.
“Sit down Mr Brand … Just on what happens next, given the verdict on count six at least, obviously a custodial sentence of some length will result,” Bennathan said after the verdict.
Bennathan said the case was “very well prepared”, adding the sentencing hearing would be on Monday.
Brand loudly replied “yes, My Lord” when he was remanded into custody.
Laura Brand was seen to hunch over in the public gallery when Brand was told he faced an inevitable prison term. She left court soon after the verdicts were delivered, walking quickly out of the building before getting into a waiting black Mercedes vehicle.
Lawyer Ian Winter made a plea for Brand to be bailed for the weekend as an “act of humanity” so that he could say goodbye to his children. Bennathan refused amid fears that he would flee rather than return to court.
Brand was refused bail and taken down to the cells.
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“I regret the hardship caused to the children, of course,” Bennathan said.
“But the hardship has been caused by serious criminal offending by their father.”
Prosecutors said the charges, between 1999 and 2009, spanned the years in which Brand rose from performing stand-up comedy in small venues to becoming a television presenter and Hollywood film star.
The court heard tearful and forceful testimony from the six complainants, who are all entitled to lifelong anonymity.
None of the women knew each other. All came forward to police following a TV documentary and press reports in 2023 in which anonymous allegations were made by other women.
The most graphic evidence related to the 2009 rape for which Brand was convicted. It involved a victim who met him after a gig, when she had engaged in a sexual encounter in his dressing room.
She recounted how, days later, she went to his home. It was there, during consensual sex, that he had anally raped her.
Afterwards Brand had told her to clear up the blood and mess, she said.
He was convicted of sexual assaulting a woman at a London bar in 2004. The victim said he had approached her at a party and grabbed her breasts.
He was also found guilty for an incident in 2009 when he demanded a woman give him a massage before he put his head between her legs as they worked on a promotion for a project. That happened in front of two of Brand’s colleagues.
In 2004 or 2005, a woman working for a radio station said he had assaulted her during a frenzied attack in front of his entourage.
In subsequent years, Brand moved away from mainstream TV and film work and built a large social media following as an anti-establishment commentator, discussing politics, spirituality and religion.
He was baptised as a Christian in 2024.
-with AP and PA
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