Russell Brand found guilty of one rape and three sexual assaults, and the judge remands him ahead of Monday’s sentencing, outlets report

A jury at Southwark Crown Court in London found comedian and actor Russell Brand guilty on Thursday, Nov. 5, of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, according to the BBC, the Guardian, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and ABC News. The BBC wrote that the verdicts followed a four-week trial and eight-and-a-half hours of jury deliberation, and that the jury cleared Brand of two other counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The Guardian wrote that the jury of four women and eight men convicted him on four of the seven charges he faced. Brand denied every charge. The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, remanded him in custody, and the CPS said sentencing will take place on Monday, Nov. 9.

The convictions covered four women and a span of years. The CPS said the offences took place between 2004 and 2009, while Brand’s career grew from stand-up comedy into television and acting. The BBC wrote that the jury found him guilty of raping a fan after a 2009 stand-up show at the Hammersmith Apollo; of groping an MTV worker at a party at a Soho bar in 2004; of kissing and groping a Choice FM worker at the Capital Radio building in 2004 or 2005; and of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker in 2009. The Guardian added that the rape conviction concerned an incident at Brand’s London townhouse, and that the jury cleared him of orally raping the MTV worker in a toilet after the 2004 party.

The jury also cleared Brand on two further counts. The BBC wrote that the jury found him not guilty of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, and not guilty of trying to drag an MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001. According to ABC News, Brand had faced a total of seven charges involving six women and had pleaded not guilty to all of them. The BBC and the Guardian each wrote that police have questioned Brand about rape allegations from two more women; the BBC quoted the Metropolitan Police as saying its investigation “remains ongoing,” and the Guardian wrote that the force has sent files to the CPS. The outlets reported no charge on those allegations.

Brand’s defence rested on consent, according to the outlets. The BBC wrote that he told the court he had used his fame to “facilitate sexual access,” described himself in the past as “obsessed” with sex and “extremely promiscuous,” and said he had “dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless, philandering, and idiocy,” but that he insisted every encounter involved consent. His barrister told jurors that Brand “had an immense amount of sex” but that “none of it was unlawful,” per the BBC. The Guardian wrote that the barrister also rejected the idea that Brand fit the description of a “psychopath who rapes people and thinks it’s normal,” and that Brand claimed not to remember some incidents. Brand’s father, Ron Brand, told the BBC he felt “bemused and shocked” by the verdicts. ABC News wrote that it had asked Brand’s attorney for comment.

Judge Bennathan addressed the sentence and bail in court. The Guardian quoted him telling Brand: “The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term.” The BBC wrote that the judge refused a request for bail over the weekend, made so Brand could explain the convictions to his children; the judge said he regretted the hardship to the children but saw “substantial grounds to fear he might in the end not feel able to come along and face his sentence.” The BBC and the Guardian wrote that Brand, as he left the dock, said or mouthed “I’m good,” and the Guardian wrote that his wife, Laura, left the court soon afterward.

Prosecutors and police spoke after the verdicts. In a statement on the CPS site, senior crown prosecutor David Roberts said: “Russell Brand was predatory and used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes.” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy of the Metropolitan Police praised the “extraordinary courage, resilience and determination of the women who came forward and reported what happened to them,” and said he hoped the conviction sends “a clear message that no one is above the law, no matter how famous or powerful they may be,” the BBC reported. This desk found no statement from Brand after the verdicts in the pages it read.

Others reacted to the verdict and to the courtroom aftermath. The Guardian and the Independent wrote that after the verdicts Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC, told Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin, who took part in the 2023 investigation: “I hope you are pleased with yourself.” Urwin answered: “I’m pleased justice has been done,” and Winter replied: “Well, it wasn’t.” The Independent quoted Sunday Times editor Ben Taylor as saying: “I found what Mr Winter did quite extraordinary.” Channel 4 said, per the Guardian, “We recognise the profound impact of these crimes,” and a BBC spokesperson said: “we reiterate that apology again today” for the culture and failings at the time of his BBC work. England and Wales victims’ commissioner Claire Waxman warned, per the Guardian, that “Justice must be grounded in evidence, not misconceptions.”

This desk read the BBC, Guardian, CPS, ABC News and Independent pages as saved copies, and The Associated Press story only through a search excerpt because its page blocked this desk’s fetch. It read no court transcript and heard none of the three X clips in full, so it relies on the post text for them. Accounts differ in small ways: the BBC, Guardian and CPS describe a four-week trial, while a @Telegraph post on X says three weeks; the desk does not choose between the trial-length figures. Readers who need support can reach Rape Crisis at 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, and RAINN at 800-656-4673 in the U.S., the Guardian reports. Times convert to Pacific Time (UTC−8).