In four hours of tense evidence, Russell Brand told jurors he rose to ‘staggering fame’ but ‘misused’ it for sex

In four hours of tense evidence, Russell Brand told jurors he rose to ‘staggering fame’ but ‘misused’ it for sex The comedian told the jury he had dedicated much of his life to ‘beyond reckless philandering and idiocy’ - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Striding into the witness box at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Russell Brand appeared tense and stiff. Standing bolt upright, with his hands clasped tightly behind his back, he began his evidence by loudly denying the allegations against him, responding “no” as his lawyer Ian Winter KC put each accusation to him. The comedian, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and artfully arranged necktie, told the jury that his notoriety had soared over the ten-year period of the alleged attacks and he had achieved “staggering fame” by the time he married Katy Perry the following year. Over more than four hours of evidence, he blamed a 2023 Dispatches documentary alleging sexual misconduct for the accusations he is now facing, insisting the “devastating” media coverage had left him unable to persuade a single person to give evidence on his behalf. “Would they touch you with a barge pole?” Mr Winter asked, to which Brand replied: “No.” But under a tense cross-examination by prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC, punctuated by uncomfortable pauses and intense periods of eye contact, the star admitted he had misused his fame to get sex and told the jury he had dedicated much of his life to “beyond reckless philandering and idiocy”. The former Big Brother’s Big Mouth presenter and Hollywood actor denies three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one allegation of attempted indecent assault in alleged attacks against six women between 1999 and 2009. His wife, Laura Gallacher, followed proceedings from the public gallery. The 51-year-old is accused of raping women in a hotel room, in a bar toilet and at his home, while two other women have accused Brand of sexually assaulting them in a recording studio and a radio station corridor. Brand said in evidence that he had an “obsession” in his younger life with sex, but denied setting himself a “goal” to sleep with 5,000 women. The comedian, who at times placed his hands in his pockets, told the court that “consent is more important than sex itself” as he insisted the encounters were consensual. Challenged by Ms Karmy-Jones about what he had done to upset one of his rape accusers “so much”, a fan who he is accused of anally raping in 2009, the comedian said he had abused his fame. He said: “I was in a position of fame, a successful person who was admired and I misused the commodity very selfishly.” Brand told jurors he now believes using his fame was “wrong”, adding: “Certainly as I became more and more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual activity.” Asked if he would remove “anything that’s in the way” to get what he wanted, he agreed he had been a “very determined and focussed man”, adding: “With women, of course, which is the subject of my trial, I have been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless philandering and idiocy.” At times, the comedian became difficult to hear from the press benches as Ms Karmy-Jones repeatedly accused the comedian of being “selective” in his memories of the encounters and questioned why some details about the alleged anal rape, which he now recalls, were missing from his previous statements. “Since these events occurred there’s been escalating recollection,” he said. “It’s been a deeply traumatic episode of my life I’ve focused on at the expense of my marriage, my children and my health. “I ask your forgiveness, well, not your forgiveness. I recognise that this recollection includes small details that are inconsistent and I acknowledge that.” The prosecutor questioned why it had taken eight months for him to recall that he had saved the woman’s name in his phone along with the code “T” for tart. He told the jury: “I would happily comply with any police request for information.” Ms Karmy-Jones responded: “Well you didn’t did you, it wasn’t until eight months later that you made any reference to having stored [the complainant’s] number on your phone.” Brand denied leaving the woman “bleeding and in pain and very upset” after the alleged attack at his home in 2009. The comic also denied he “pretended for a very long time” that he could not remember an encounter at Labour party conference in 1999, until police located topless pictures of him taken by that accuser in her storage unit. Under questioning from Mr Winter, he claimed he thought there was “at least a possibility of sex” when the woman asked him to her hotel room at event in Bournemouth, adding that she was older and he found her attractive. “She was vivacious, vital, loquacious, interesting for me at that time,” he said. Facing Ms Karmy-Jones, he denied pushing the six and half stone woman on to the bed and raping her. At one point the prosecutor asked him “are you sure you aren’t making this up as you stand here now” as she questioned his claim that he had been speaking to the woman during the encounter, seeking her approval. The comedian also denied grabbing a third woman’s breasts and orally raping her in the toilet of a Soho bar in 2004. He told the jury she was “wide-eyed, enthusiastic” and “flirty” when he was introduced to her at a party. He said he did not grab her breasts, insisting it would not work if his intention was to “charm or seduce” her. “It wouldn’t work as a chat up line?,” Mr Winter asked. “I never tried it but I can’t imagine it would,” Brand replied. Brand told the jury he invited her “into the lavatory to fool around” but said the encounter ended because the environment was “unsuitable” to achieve an orgasm. Later, he went to a bar in Camden where he met some women from the TV channel Babestation, he told the court. During the course of his time in the witness box, Brand was also confronted with extracts from his own 2007 book, My Booky Wook. The first alleged rape victim has told the court she believed Brand was gay when she asked him to come to her hotel room. In his book, Brand used a picture of himself as a seven-year-old and wrote the caption: “This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls. It took 15 years to produce results.” The prosecutor said: “That’s something you would do, wasn’t it? That was something you would do to make girls trust you?” “No,” Brand replied. The trial continues. [Image text:] RussePronks RonBrad lan winte Kc arnnd Rusell Brand Judesct Jecke C with his Janior MsPolly Dyer Sudge