Comedian Russell Brand, once one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters and a Hollywood film star, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others, and faces a lengthy prison sentence, Reuters reported.
After a four-week trial, the jury acquitted the 51-year-old of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault. Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand would be sentenced on Monday. He was refused bail and taken to the cells.
Brand had denied all the charges and said he had never had non-consensual sex. He told the court the incidents, which date back more than 20 years, were either consensual or had been reinvented or reimagined. He acknowledged in evidence that he had devoted much of his life to “reckless philandering and idiocy”, but said sexual consent was fundamental.
Prosecutors said Brand, the former husband of US singer Katy Perry, was obsessed with sex and used women to satisfy his own desires. Lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors he could be funny and charming but was also ruthless, calculating and manipulative, and interested only in getting what he wanted from women. She said there had been “a flavour of disdain” towards the complainants in his evidence, reflecting his approach to women at the time.
Prosecutors said his offending spanned the years in which he rose from stand-up comedy in small venues to television presenting and Hollywood films.
Police said Brand remains under investigation over two other alleged rapes, and files of evidence have been sent to prosecutors.
Detective Inspector Laura Nelson, who led the investigation, told Reuters she believed “he is a sexual predator and he has abused his power throughout his career”, and that he had become more emboldened as his fame grew. She said police expected more allegations could emerge after the conviction and would take any reports seriously.
The complainants
The six complainants, who are all entitled to lifelong anonymity, gave tearful and forceful evidence. None of them knew each other, but all went to police after a television documentary and press reports in 2023 in which other women made separate allegations against Brand. Those women were not part of the criminal trial.
The complainants described a sudden change in Brand’s manner during their encounters, saying he became wide-eyed and maniacal. One victim said he treated her “like an animal”.
One woman said he grabbed her breasts less than a minute after meeting her at a party in a bar. Another, who described herself as a fan, said she went to his home for consensual sex, but he removed a condom and raped her.
Witnesses
A former friend who later lived with Brand told the court he had bragged that he wanted to sleep with 5,000 women. Helen Berger, his personal assistant from 2006 to 2007, said in a witness statement that he had “an insane sexual appetite”.
Brand wrote openly about his struggles with drugs and sex addiction in his 2007 autobiography ‘My Booky Wook’.
Background
Brand rose to prominence hosting a ‘Big Brother’ spin-off on Channel 4 and became a regular on British television and radio in the 2000s before starring in films including ‘Get Him to the Greek’ and ‘Arthur’. He married Perry in 2010, a relationship he told the court made him enormously famous. The marriage lasted 14 months.
Nelson said Perry had not been approached as a potential witness, but could contact police if she had any information.
Brand later moved away from mainstream television and film and built a large social media following as an anti-establishment commentator on politics, spirituality and religion. He was baptised as a Christian in 2024, after the allegations became public.
He is among the most prominent British celebrities convicted of sex offences in recent years, after former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards admitted making indecent images of children two years ago, and entertainer Rolf Harris was found guilty in 2014 of assaulting young girls.
(Reuters)
