Russell Brand jailed for 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assault

Russell Brand has been jailed for 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assault, after a judge at Southwark Crown Court told him the offences showed a "casual contempt" for the women he attacked.

The 51-year-old comedian and actor was sentenced by Mr Justice Bennathan after a jury found him guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a four-week trial. The offences were committed against four women between 2004 and 2009.

The sentence closes the first criminal case to arise from allegations that surfaced after a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary about Brand aired in 2023. Prosecutors told the trial he had used his fame and celebrity status to pursue advances with women as "a calculated sexual predator".

The rape conviction concerns a woman who told the court Brand anally raped her at his Hampstead home in 2009. The judge said Brand first had consensual vaginal sex with her before flipping her over, removing his condom and raping her, and then "humiliated" her by telling her to clear up the soiled sheets.

Mr Justice Bennathan said two aggravating factors, the removal of the condom without consent and ejaculation, required him to raise the sentence two years above the starting point. He said the attack "led to her months of fearing she might have HIV" and placed the offence in category 2 under the sentencing guidelines.

The judge told Brand the woman went on to "develop an alcohol problem as a result of you raping her" and that the rape still affects her today. He noted that Brand had saved her number under the letter "T", standing for "tart", and that the chauffeur who drove her home "for some reason had tissues ready" as she cried.

Brand's counsel, Ian Winter KC, had argued the starting point for the rape should be 12 years in custody. The Sentencing Council guidelines give a range of four to 19 years for rape, with a maximum of life imprisonment, and a range from a community order to seven years for sexual assault.

Turning to the earliest offence, a sexual assault in the summer of 2004, the judge said the woman had wanted to meet Brand and "that was all you needed to feel entitled to grab her breasts as she sat talking to you". The assault left her "wandering the streets of London, phoning a friend in the middle of the night, tearful and distressed", he said.

Brand had told the jury he had never touched a woman sexually without her consent. The verdicts showed this was "one of a series of lies", the judge said, and the 2004 attack displayed his "casual arrogance" and "disregard of any woman's right to say no".

The final victim was sexually assaulted in 2009 while working on a project for Channel 4. The judge referred to the "childish sexual comments" Brand made afterwards in front of two male colleagues, asking her whether she had "a dick or fanny". Brand raised his eyebrows and leaned back in the dock as that passage was read.

In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC, the woman said the assault had "burst that bubble" of innocence she had before.

"I felt I lost my trust in people and felt that my working environment wasn't safe," she said. "Immediately after the incident I spoke up, and sadly it was brushed under the carpet by senior management."

She said the investigation had taken so much out of her that she had to step back from work commitments, and that she worried there would be repercussions for telling the truth.

Mr Justice Bennathan said he had disregarded the content of the 2023 documentary for the purposes of sentencing. He also said he had not taken into account the two further counts of rape and the charge of attempted indecent assault on which the jury found Brand not guilty.

Brand's wife, Laura Brand, and his father, Ron Brand, sat behind the dock during the hearing. Brand nodded to his wife as he entered before turning to face the judge.

Winter's conduct towards the complainants during the trial drew criticism. Asked how some of his arguments had been permitted in court, the former Old Bailey judge Wendy Joseph KC said it was "a difficult and delicate balance", adding that she would "be absolutely amazed if the judge hadn't given some sort of warning at some stage to the jury" about rape myths.

The Metropolitan Police has told Sky News that Brand remains under investigation over separate allegations of rape made by two other women.