British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London, bringing an end to a four-week trial that examined allegations stretching back more than two decades.
The jury of eight men and four women convicted the 51-year-old of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, involving four women. He was cleared of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. Brand, who denied all of the charges and pleaded not guilty, stood in the dock as the verdicts were read out and closed his eyes as the first guilty verdict was delivered.
The court heard that the offences took place between 2004 and 2009. The rape conviction related to a 21-year-old admirer whom Brand met at one of his shows in west London in 2009. The sexual assault convictions covered the groping of an MTV worker at a bar in central London in 2004, the kissing and groping of a woman at her workplace in 2005, and an assault on another woman in 2009 in which she was made to give him a massage.
Mr Justice Joel Bennathan, who presided over the trial, remanded Brand in custody immediately after the verdicts and refused him bail. He told the court that Brand should expect a significant custodial term when he is sentenced on Monday, 9 November.
Under sentencing guidelines in England and Wales, a rape conviction carries a range of four to 19 years in custody, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in the most serious cases. Sexual assault convictions carry a maximum of 10 years. A legal expert quoted after the verdict estimated that Brand could face around eight or nine years behind bars, although the final sentence rests entirely with the judge, who must also decide whether the terms for each offence run at the same time or one after another.
The trial began on 12 October and lasted four weeks. The jury deliberated for around eight and a half hours over two days before returning its verdicts on Thursday, 5 November. The judge described the case as very well prepared, according to Britain's Press Association.
The charges arose from a police investigation that began in 2023, after a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme brought forward claims of rape, sexual assault and abuse against Brand. The Metropolitan Police said its inquiry involved interviews with more than 100 witnesses and a review of thousands of documents. Prosecutors brought seven charges in total, covering three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault, involving six women, with alleged incidents dating from 1999 to 2009.
Brand has consistently denied the allegations. In interviews with police in December 2023 he described the claims as defamatory and fictitious, and during the trial his defence maintained that he had done nothing wrong. He told officers that he had led a very promiscuous life in the past, a period he has since spoken about publicly and denounced.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that investigations are continuing into two further allegations of rape made against Brand by two other women. A previous hearing was told that one of those allegations involves a 16-year-old schoolgirl, and police have said the matter remains under investigation.
Brand rose to fame in the 2000s as a stand-up comedian and television presenter before moving into film, with roles including in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He was briefly married to the pop star Katy Perry. In recent years he has reinvented himself as an online commentator on spirituality and politics, building a large following on social media and video platforms.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Brand had used his celebrity status to commit the offences. The verdict closes one chapter of a case that has been closely watched in Britain and beyond, but the sentencing on Monday and the continuing police inquiries mean the legal consequences are not yet over.
