Russell Brand's barrister confronts journalist with expletive after rape conviction
Ian Winter KC accused Sunday Times reporter Rosamund Urwin of tainting the trial after Brand was found guilty of rape and sexual assault.
Brand's barrister erupts at journalist outside Southwark Crown Court
Russell Brand's barrister launched a foul-mouthed attack on a journalist outside the courtroom moments after the comedian was found guilty of rape and sexual assault, the Evening Standard reports.
Ian Winter KC confronted Rosamund Urwin — the Sunday Times journalist whose investigation helped bring Brand's accusers to police — with the words: "I hope you are pleased with yourself."
Urwin did not back down. "I'm pleased justice has been done," she told him.
Winter replied: "Well, it wasn't. You f***** it."
Defence had tried to blame media coverage throughout the trial
The outburst followed a broader legal strategy by Brand's team to attribute responsibility for the prosecution to press reporting. Winter had argued during the trial that coverage by Urwin and others had "poisoned the well", making a fair trial impossible for his client.
Trial judge Mr Justice Bennathan rejected that argument, ruling that a jury could be drawn from people who had not encountered the 2023 media reporting. The case proceeded.
It can now be reported, following restrictions that were in place during the trial, that Brand's legal team went further still in pre-trial hearings. Winter described journalists at Channel 4, Hardcash Productions and The Sunday Times as having acted unlawfully and criminally by publishing the investigation's findings.
"The conduct of Channel 4, Hardcash Productions – the makers of the documentary – and the Sunday Times newspaper in publishing the anonymous allegations against the defendant was, and remains, unlawful and criminal," Winter told the court.
"It amounted to, and continues to do so, a contempt of court and to a perversion of the course of justice."
'We don't even know if these people exist'
During two days of pre-trial hearings in September, Winter sought to have the rape and sexual assault charges thrown out. He called the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, a "work of fiction" filled with "false allegations", noting that the women who had given their accounts were depicted on screen by actors rather than appearing themselves.
"We don't even know if these people exist," he told the court.
The documentary covered a range of allegations against Brand, including rape, sexual harassment on the set of Big Brother, sexually charged comments made during his time at the BBC, and details of his conduct during the Noughties. It also included material relating to the Sachsgate scandal, accounts from his personal assistant about his behaviour towards women, and information about his self-described sex addiction.
Winter argued the film drove viewers to conclude that Brand "is a rapist and a sexual assaulter and a serial abuser of women", adding: "It destroys him as a person. It destroys him as a credible witness. It destroys any hint of sympathy that a jury might otherwise have had for him."
He also told the court that the documentary remained available online in the weeks before the trial began, and suggested the Attorney General should have intervened to have it removed.
Brand claimed he suffered more prejudice than Rose West
Brand, 51, had argued prior to trial that he had been the victim of a "trial by media" following investigations published by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches in 2023. The reports prompted a number of women to approach police with allegations of rape, sexual assault, coercive behaviour and emotional abuse.
In legal argument that was subject to reporting restrictions until after the verdict, Brand told the court he had experienced greater prejudice than serial killer Rose West, and that the media coverage amounted to a "global character assassination" that had made it difficult for him to find friends or former colleagues willing to give evidence on his behalf.
Mr Justice Bennathan rejected the claim that Brand's reputation had been destroyed, pointing to a sell-out show Brand performed at Wembley after the rape allegations were first made public. The judge also dismissed the argument that journalists had committed any criminal offence.
"There is a history, both modern and ancient, of the media running what they claim are exposés of misconduct," he ruled, describing the defence's claim as "unpersuasive".
Prosecutors had opposed the application to have the charges dropped, and the trial proceeded following the judge's ruling.
Winter's confrontation with Urwin outside the court came after his client was convicted on all relevant counts. Brand now faces sentencing.
Source: Evening Standard