By Sohaib Shams
The jury has started considering verdicts in Russell Brand's rape and sexual assault trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.
Charges and allegations
The 51-year-old media personality faces three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault. The charges relate to allegations from six women spanning a decade between 1999 and 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Defense and prosecution arguments
Giving evidence, Brand told the court he had been "obsessed" with sex in the past but insisted it was always consensual. His barrister argued that Brand "had an immense amount of sex" but "none of it was unlawful," noting that none of the women reported the incidents to police at the time and that a 2023 media investigation had "poisoned the well of justice." Prosecutors depicted Brand as someone who saw women as a "disposable commodity" and said the complainants described his personality changing "from charming to frightening to nasty" during the alleged attacks.
Specific allegations
One woman accuses Brand of raping her after meeting at the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. Another claims he grabbed her at a London bar in 2004 and dragged her into a toilet where he allegedly orally raped her. A third woman alleges he raped her in 2009 after a consensual encounter at the Hammersmith Apollo theatre and a later invitation to his Hampstead home. Additional allegations include pinning a woman against a wall and groping, forcing a massage, and attempting to drag a woman into a toilet. Brand denies all charges.
Background
Brand rose to fame as a stand-up comedian and TV host, later starring in Hollywood films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek. He was married to pop star Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012. In recent years he has reinvented himself as an online social, political and religious commentator. Allegations of sexual misconduct first surfaced in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary and a Times investigation involving different women.
