Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and three sexual assaults. The Guardian reported that the verdicts came on Thursday at Southwark crown court in London, after a four-week trial. AFP also reported the convictions. The four offences targeted four women over five years of Brand's showbusiness career.
Brand, 51, had pleaded not guilty to seven charges involving six women. They covered three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault, spanning 10 years from 1999. The jury of four women and eight men deliberated for eight hours and 30 minutes. It cleared him of two rape counts and the attempted indecent assault charge.
According to the Guardian, the jury found that Brand raped a young fan at his London townhouse in early 2009. He had picked her out of the crowd after a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting an MTV worker at a party in Soho in 2004. Another conviction involved a woman working at radio station Choice FM in 2004 or 2005. The fourth involved a Channel 4 worker during a filming project in 2009.
The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told Brand that a rape conviction meant "inevitably a significant custodial term". He then remanded him in custody. Defence barrister Ian Winter KC asked for weekend bail so Brand could say goodbye to his children. The judge refused. He said there were substantial grounds to fear Brand might not return to face his sentence.
Brand had claimed he could not remember some incidents. He said others were consensual encounters that had been "reimagined" after a 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary and reports in the Times and Sunday Times. His lawyer argued those reports had "poisoned the well" and made a fair trial impossible. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said the women described the same pattern: flattery and flirting, then a sudden switch "from charming to frightening to nasty".
Brand's legal troubles may not be over. The Guardian reported that he is under investigation over two further rape allegations. The Metropolitan police have sent files to the Crown Prosecution Service and said their investigation is continuing.
The case has raised hard questions for the BBC, Channel 4 and the production companies that worked with Brand. Channel 4 said it recognised "the profound impact of these crimes" and praised the courage of the witnesses who gave evidence.