Russell Brand Found Guilty of Rape and Three Sexual Assaults at London Trial

British comedian Russell Brand was found guilty on Thursday of raping a young fan and sexually assaulting three other women, after a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London returned its verdicts following about eight and a half hours of deliberation.

Brand, 51, was convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The jury cleared him of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The seven charges covered alleged offences against six women between 1999 and 2009. Brand denied all of the charges.

Judge Joel Bennathan remanded Brand in custody and set sentencing for Monday, November 9. “The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term,” Bennathan told him in court.

What the jury decided

The rape conviction relates to a 21-year-old admirer Brand met after one of his stand-up shows in west London in 2009. According to CNN, the woman told the court she had met Brand after a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo and that a second meeting at his home turned into rape when he forced her into anal sex and ignored her pleas to stop.

The three sexual assault convictions cover a groping of an MTV worker at a bar in central London in 2004, a kissing and groping of another woman at her workplace in 2005, and a sexual assault of a woman in 2009 who was forced to give him a massage.

Brand was cleared of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show during the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, and of trying to drag an MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001.

Police and prosecutors react

London’s Metropolitan Police said Brand “used his influence, status and fame to exploit and sexually offend against women.” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said in a statement: “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.”

David Roberts of the Crown Prosecution Service said outside court that 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.”

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Brand was a “sexual predator” who had set himself a mission to have sex with 5,000 women. Brand told the court he had been obsessed with sex at the time but said that consent in sex was “fundamental.”

The police investigation began in 2023, after a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches” program reported allegations against Brand. The Metropolitan Police said a number of women who did not know each other came forward with reports after that investigation was published. The Met also confirmed that investigations are continuing into two other allegations of rape made against Brand.

Brand rose to fame in Britain in the early 2000s as a stand-up comedian and as host of “Celebrity Big Brother’s Big Mouth,” and later moved to BBC Radio 2 and to Hollywood films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” He was married to US pop star Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012. In 2017 he married author and illustrator Laura Gallacher, with whom he has three children. In recent years he has lived in Florida and become a born-again Christian.

In England and Wales, a rape conviction carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with sentencing guidelines listing a range of four to 19 years in custody. Sexual assault convictions can result in up to 10 years in prison.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN, Reuters and USA Today.