Russell Brand behind bars after being found guilty of raping fan and sexually assaulting three women

Russell Brand behind bars after being found guilty of raping fan and sexually assaulting three women Jurors returned their verdicts following a dramatic four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Russell Brand is behind bars having been found guilty of raping a fan and sexually assaulting three women at the height his showbiz career, callously treating them like “amusements” in a quest to sleep with 5,000 women. Jurors took less than nine hours to find the comedian guilty of offences against four women between 2004 and 2009, by which time he had soared to “staggering fame”, following a dramatic four-week trial. However, he was acquitted of orally raping one of the victims in a bar toilet in 2004, raping another woman at Labour Party conference in 1999 and one count of attempting to indecently assault an MTV worker in 2001. The Essex-born celebrity, who appeared in Hollywood films Get Him to the Greek and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, was emotionless in the dock of Southwark Crown Court as the verdicts were returned on Thursday. His wife, Laura Brand, was visibly emotional and was led from court with his entourage after her husband was taken to the cells, having been warned he faces a “significant custodial term”. Judge Mr Justice Bennathan refused to grant Brand bail to allow him to say goodbye to his wife and three children and remanded him in custody until Monday, when he is due to be sentenced. “I regret any hardship caused to the children of course but the hardship has been caused by the jury finding of serious criminal offending by their father,” the judge said. In fraught scenes outside the courtroom, Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC, launched into a verbal tirade against a Sunday Times journalist who had worked on a joint 2023 investigation with Channel 4 Dispatches and The Times accusing the comedian of sexual misconduct. “I hope you are pleased with yourself”, he told Rosamund Urwin, the paper’s chief news correspondent. When she was heard replying: “I’m pleased justice has been done”, Mr Winter retorted: “Well, it wasn’t. You f***ed it.” He then added: “Congratulations.” During the trial, Mr Winter had argued The Sunday Times, The Times and Dispatches reporting had “poisoned the well of justice” against his client and made an unsuccessful bid to have trial thrown out. As a Serco van thought to be carrying the convicted rapist left Southwark Crown Court at around 4.30pm, a man was heard shouting “hold on to Jesus, Russell”. Following the guilty verdicts, the Metropolitan Police confirmed the celebrity is already under investigation for two more alleged rapes, including that of a 16-year-old schoolgirl, and detectives believe further victims may come forward. Urging any other survivors to come forward, Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said: “Brand used his influence, status and fame to exploit and sexually offend against women. As his profile grew, so too did his sense of entitlement. “I hope this conviction sends a clear message that no-one is above the law, no matter how famous or powerful they may be.” Speaking outside Southwark Crown Court, senior crown prosecutor David Roberts, said Brand’s “vile crimes” will have a lifelong impact on his victims. “The evidence showed Brand to be a calculated sexual predator using his growing fame and power to create situations in which he could pursue women sexually, regardless of what they wanted,” he said. “I’d like to thank all the women for coming forward and reporting Brand to the police. It is thanks to their courage that he will finally face the consequences of his actions.” During the trial, the jury heard how Brand’s eyes changed before each attack and he “snapped from charming to frightening and nasty”. “Many said he was nice and then it was like there was a personality change, a pivot,” prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the jury. “He didn’t listen when they said no, he didn’t stop, he didn’t care, he kept pulling, pushing, tugging, thrusting.” Jurors found the comic not guilty of pushing a woman onto a hotel bed at Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999, when he was aged 24 and not yet famous. The woman fought back tears as she gave evidence from behind a screen to protect her anonymity, recalling how she believed Brand was gay when she invited him to her room but emerged from the toilet to find him partially undressed, prancing around doing “silly walks”. “He changed from camp and friendly and effeminate to monster-like,” she told the jury. “I was scared in that moment.” She claimed she was “terrified” as she complied with Brand’s request that she photograph him and baulked at the idea that she could have fled under cross examination by the celebrity’s lawyer. Pictures taken by the woman show a topless Brand, wearing white jeans, blowing a kiss towards the camera. She added: “I had nowhere to run. I had no phone. It was a bedsit, there was no reception. Was I supposed to run into the night and have him chase after me?” Brand was a rising comedy star and hosting shows such as Big Brother’s Big Mouth when he grabbed a woman’s breasts within moments of meeting her at a party in a Soho bar 2004. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman, but acquitted of orally raping her inside the bar’s toilet. The woman said he had a “weird maniacal grin” as he groped her and then pulled to the toilet, where she alleged he put his hand on the back of her head and made her perform a sex act. “I remember it felt like a force and every time I tried to move away, it was strong; it was forcing me back,” she said. “I did definitely say, ‘What are you doing, I don’t want to do this.’” At one point, Brand said “Oh, come on, don’t be a spoilsport”, the woman claimed. She recalled he was not “very well endowed; he was average sized”. Brand was performing at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009 when he selected a 21-year-old fan from the crowd to join him backstage, where they had a consensual threesome in his dressing room. But he was found guilty of rape after she told the jury he took the condom off and penetrated her anally her during a second encounter days later at his Hampstead townhouse, leaving her hurt, bleeding and fearing she had contracted HIV. Initially, she said she could not speak or breathe and was in pain before pleading “can you stop, can you stop, can you stop”, the court heard. Asked by Brand’s lawyer if she knew the comedian’s sexual reputation at the time, including that he had won the Sun newspaper’s ‘shagger of the year’ three years running, she insisted: “I had not at that point heard about Mr Brand raping somebody.” After the rape, Brand scolded the fan, telling her she was “disgusting” and “look what you have done to my f****** sheets”, the jury heard. In the weeks, months and years after the incident, the woman told multiple friends, her parents and a work colleague that the star had ignored her pleas for him to stop, the jury heard, telling one that he had left her “humiliated, scared and violated, and in a lot of physical pain”. The actor-turned-content creator was also found guilty of groping and kissing a radio station worker in 2004 or 2005 and pushing his face in a Channel 4 worker’s groin after demanding a massage in 2009. Brand, who denied all the charges, claimed the encounters were consensual and the women had been influenced by a “devastating” 2023 Dispatches documentary which accused the star of sexual misconduct. None of the complainants had featured in the expose but all came forward following the media reports, the court heard. Brand’s lawyer argued the reporting had “poisoned the well of justice” against his client. During his evidence, the comedian insisted consent is “more important that the sex itself” but admitted to “misusing” his fame for sex. Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches will be rebroadcast on Channel 4 on Thursday at 11.40pm.