London
British actor, comedian and media personality Russell Brand faces a lengthy prison sentence after being found guilty in a London court on Thursday of raping a young fan and sexually assaulting three women.
Brand, 51, was convicted of raping the 21-year-old admirer in 2009 after they met at one of his shows in west London. He was also convicted of groping an MTV employee in a central London bar in 2004, kissing and groping another woman at his workplace in 2005 and sexually assaulting another woman in 2009 when she was forced to give him a massage.
At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, a jury of eight men and four women cleared the star of two separate charges of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault, after deliberating for around eight and a half hours.
Speaking after the verdicts were delivered, Judge Joel Bennathan said the case was “very well prepared”, according to the British Press Association (PA), adding that sentencing would take place on Monday.
Brand, who stood tall in the dock when the verdicts were revealed and turned a blind eye when he learned he had been convicted of rape, was remanded in custody. “The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custody sentence,” Bennathan said.
Brand said “I love you” to his wife Laura Gallacher, an author and illustrator who regularly attended court with her husband, before entering the dock to hear the verdicts.
Brand, who was previously married to American pop star Katy Perry, “used his influence, status and fame to sexually exploit and offend women”, London’s Metropolitan Police said after the comedian’s conviction.
“As his profile grew, so 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 are,” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said in a statement.
Speaking outside court, David Roberts, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the evidence showed Brand “was 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”.
Accusers say brand morphed in alleged attacks
His accusers have appeared in court over the past three weeks, revealing in emotional testimony how Brand forced them into sexual activity at a time when he was rising to fame as one of Britain’s best-known comedians and television presenters.
Detectives began investigating the comedian in 2023 after allegations were made in a joint investigation by three British media outlets – the Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches.” Brand also denied the allegations, which concerned several women who were not involved in the criminal trial.
A number of women who did not know each other came forward to police with reports about Brand after this investigation was published, the Met Police said.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Brand was a “sexual predator” who continued his mission of having sex with 5,000 women. Brand then admitted he had been obsessed with sex, but said sexual consent was “fundamental.”
The trial against Brand opened in London in mid-October. One of the complainants told the court how the two men met after a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009. She said the two men engaged in a consensual threesome at the venue before going to her house for sex several days later. However, she said their second encounter turned into rape when he forced her to have anal sex and ignored her pleas to stop.
The woman said she became an alcoholic following the incident. One of her friends described her as a “bright, bubbly, confident girl,” but said “this experience has definitely changed her,” according to PA.
Another woman told the court she “felt ashamed” and that the comedian acted “like nothing had happened” after groping her on a night out at a bar in Soho, central London, in 2004.
Brand began his showbiz career as a stand-up comedian, drawing on his own experiences with illegal drugs and sex addiction for his performances. He became a household name in Britain in the early 2000s as host of “Celebrity Big Brother’s Big Mouth”, a spin-off of “Celebrity Big Brother”.
Brand’s chaotic energy, unfiltered language, and provocative jokes have made him a controversial pop culture figure, with audiences torn between loving or hating his act. In 2001, he was fired from MTV UK after showing up to work dressed as Osama bin Laden two days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He later attributed his behavior to his addiction to crack and heroin. Brand went to rehab in 2002 and says he has remained sober ever since.
In 2006, he moved to mainstream radio with “The Russell Brand Show” on BBC Radio 2, a weekly Saturday night show during which he had frank, comedic – and often X-rated – conversations with a co-host and guests.
However, the popular radio show ended abruptly two years later with Brand’s departure following the broadcast of sexist and misogynistic voicemails to “Fawlty Towers” star Andrew Sachs, which sparked outrage and broke British broadcasting regulations..
But the scandal didn’t stop Brand’s rise to global stardom. He went on to star in several Hollywood films, including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” He was married to Perry, the American pop star, between 2010 and 2012.
Over the past decade, Brand has moved away from his eccentric, sexual image and started creating podcasts about spirituality, meditation and yoga. In 2017, he wrote a self-help guide, “Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions,” as his performances moved from theater stages to wellness gatherings. The same year, he married Gallacher, with whom he had three children.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, he has cultivated something of a cult following online, with more than 6.6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and a show on the new Rumble platform. He lived in Florida and became a born-again Christian, publishing a book about his conversion in 2026 through conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s new imprint.
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