Russell Brand sentenced for rape and sexual assaults at Southwark Crown Court
Russell Brand faces sentencing on Monday after being found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults at Southwark Crown Court. The judge is set to hear victim impact statements before passing sentence.
Brand to learn sentence for rape and sexual assaults
Russell Brand is due to be sentenced on Monday at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of raping a fan and sexually assaulting three other women during his career in entertainment, the Evening Standard reports.
Mr Justice Bennathan ordered the 51-year-old to begin his prison term immediately following the guilty verdicts last Thursday afternoon, sending Brand directly to the cells. The judge will now determine the length of his custodial sentence after hearing victim impact statements and legal submissions from both sides.
Brand's wife, Laura Gallacher, left court in tears after the verdicts were announced. Brand was last seen mouthing "I'm OK" to his lawyers before being taken into custody.
A four-week trial
The trial, which lasted four weeks, heard how Brand exploited women he encountered as he rose to become one of Britain's most prominent comedians, a television and radio host, and a Hollywood actor who was briefly married to singer Katy Perry.
Brand maintained throughout that he had only ever engaged in consensual sex during what he described as a "promiscuous" life, acknowledging "idiocy" but denying any criminal conduct.
His victims gave a different account — of a famous and powerful man who kissed and groped women within seconds of meeting them, pursued his sexual ambitions with relentlessness, and laughed off or gaslit his victims after the attacks. Former friends and colleagues also testified about his stated ambition to sleep with 5,000 women, an "insane" sexual appetite, and the normalisation of his behaviour towards women as his fame grew.
The offences
The jury convicted Brand of raping a 21-year-old fan in 2009, after they met following one of his stand-up shows at the Hammersmith Apollo. The woman told jurors she had willingly taken part in a backstage threesome, but that a subsequent visit to his Hampstead home — agreed to for consensual sex — turned into rape when Brand forced her into anal sex without her consent.
A second woman described having her breasts groped by Brand in a Soho bar in 2004, just seconds after being introduced to him at a party. She recalled his "weird" grin as he carried out the assault in the middle of a packed room.
In 2005, Brand kissed and groped a third woman during a visit to Capital Radio's studios in London, pouncing on her as she left a room. She told the court she looked to his entourage for help but received none, before eventually managing to push him away.
Brand was also convicted of placing his head into the groin of a female Channel 4 worker in 2009, after she had been pressured into giving him a massage during a recording session. Members of his entourage encouraged the incident rather than intervening, the court heard.
The jury cleared Brand of two further rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Further investigations and fallout
In the wake of the convictions, the Metropolitan Police confirmed Brand is under investigation over two additional rape allegations. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers are braced for "many, many more" potential victims to come forward.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham described Brand's crimes as "horrifying". Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy warned that media organisations have not done enough to prevent celebrities from preying on women.
"We need far more robust processes in place to protect women like the women who bravely came forward in the Russell Brand case," Nandy said on Sunday. "Hand on heart, I don't think we can say that this couldn't happen today."
One of Brand's former producers, Jack Bayles — accused of encouraging the 2009 forced massage — has been asked to step back from production of two BBC sitcoms by TV company Various Artists Limited.
Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman called for a new legal duty requiring judges to direct juries on rape myths and misconceptions when such arguments have been raised during a trial. The call followed Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggesting the comedian could not be a rapist because his accusers had not screamed, fought back, or fled during the attacks.
In a separate incident after the verdicts, Winter was seen verbally abusing Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin — one of the reporters who first exposed Brand as a sexual predator — in the courthouse corridor. Winter announced on Friday that he has self-referred to the Bar Standards Board following media coverage of the incident.
Brand, who had continued broadcasting Christian sermons online throughout the trial and retains millions of followers, has now spent four nights in custody ahead of Monday's sentencing.
Source: Evening Standard