How Russell Brand got caught

“Whatever women wear, wherever they go, and whatever they drink, they retain the right to say ‘no’ and demand justice from the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent.”

Those were the words that echoed at Southwark Crown Court as Judge Joel Bennathan sentenced the once-revered presenter, comedian and actor to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday. Hordes of journalists and paparazzi effectively set up camp for four weeks while the jury faced numerous allegations of rape and sexual assault. In total, six plaintiffs accused Brand of frenzied attacks between 1999 and 2009.

Here, the man who went on to make a career in Hollywood films like Take it to Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall And Rock of Ages — a once-famous womanizer, sold-out stand-up and ex-husband of pop superstar Katy Perry — was darkly depicted in court sketches showing the now-devout Christian, head bowed, rolling a rosary between his fingers.

And last week, after consistently denying any criminal wrongdoing, he was found guilty of four of seven charges. Three were frenzied sexual assaults and one was a violent anal rape that occurred after a woman had consensual vaginal sex with Brand at his Hampstead home in 2009. Bennathan’s sentencing remarks captured the heartbreaking reality of the victim’s experience. He told Brand: “You turned her over, removed the condom and, without asking, pushed your penis into her anus, causing her great pain. She asked you to stop, then asked you again out loud. You responded, and I quote, ‘I want you to smell my cum.’ that it was her problem and you made her try to clean it up. Soon after, you left to get ready and then went to work. She was driven to a nearby subway station by your driver, who for some reason had tissues handy while she cried. She was distraught, in pain, and terrified that she had contracted HIV.

Over the past month, this trial has dominated the media, spawned entire podcasts and divided the British public. Brand admitted during the trial that no one would “touch him with a barge mast” and that he had failed to persuade anyone to testify on his behalf. Naturally, many of these familiar faces on the British comedy circuit have long distanced themselves from the sex offender. Jonathan Ross released a statement this week saying he was “horrified” by Brand’s crimes and “genuinely unaware” of his conduct; there are literally hundreds more who have said nothing – and will say nothing.

And as Brand begins what looks like a seven-year stint at HMP Wandsworth prison, a number of questions remain unanswered. Is it true that his sinister behavior was “an open secret” in the British television industry, and why did so many of these allegations relate to workplace incidents? Why had Brand’s defense, led by a lawyer named Ian Winter, claimed that journalists had “poisoned the well of justice” by publishing various investigations into Brand’s behavior? How, with the audacity of Brand’s actions palpable in every attack for which he was convicted, did this predator go unnoticed for at least 17 years? And what message does his conviction send to those who still operate like him?

Two sexual assault lawyers specializing in work, pay and insecurity in the creative industries from the University of Warwick, plus the woman who led the Channel 4 investigations and Sunday hours this would launch a police investigation into Brand’s crimes, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how Brand’s belief changed the UK entertainment industry. They lay bare the specifics of a heavily independent industry that allowed Brand to evade sanctions, how women were lured into spaces with him under the guise of flamboyant comedy, and the years-long dedicated work of investigative journalists who helped bring a famous rapist to justice.

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“He was so famous.”

Dorothy Byrne was head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 when Jemima Goldsmith, Brand’s ex-girlfriend, came to speak to her in 2019. “People were saying, ‘How did you get into the story?’ And I’ll say, ‘Oh, well, someone told me about it,'” Byrne begins. THR.

Only in the last 48 hours has Byrne been able to publicly name Goldsmith as this whistleblower. The TV producer, who dated Brand for about a year in 2014, took to social media following his sentencing this week to detail her own experience of “violence, coercive control and abuse” at the hands of Brand. “I didn’t know Russell Brand,” Byrne says. “I thought he was scary and sleazy – and we now know that a lot of people in the media industry knew what a terrible person he was.” (Brand made almost no attempt to hide it himself; one of his stand-up rounds in 2006 included an entire section devoted to Brand telling the audience that he likes “blowjobs where the mascara runs a little bit.” A former friend testifying for the prosecution said that Brand bragged about wanting to sleep with 5,000 women.)

Byrne continues: “But I worked in news and current affairs. Not in comedy and entertainment. (Goldsmith) spoke to me about her experience and she said, ‘I think it should be exposed to protect other women.’ Even having this conversation was, for her, difficult, and I really admire and thank her for it.

This would be the spark that sparks a joint investigation between Channel 4’s channels Dispatches, The times And Sunday hourswith two journalists – Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace – leading the charge in reporting and ending up interviewing hundreds of people about Brand’s behavior. Byrne left her role on Channel 4 in 2020 and maintains she was only involved in early investigations. But even then, she said, other national media outlets were following the story. “(They) found it very difficult,” she says. THR. “In Brand’s case, women were particularly afraid to speak. Firstly, because he was so famous. They felt he was so famous and powerful. He has a lot of money. ‘If I speak, he has all the power.’ And almost everyone who works in television is now self-employed.

This is how one of the first major obstacles in this case against Brand emerged: the persistent complexity of temporary contracts. Dr Heidi Ashton, an expert on work, pay and insecurity in the creative industries, says of the freelance-filled TV industry in which Brand preys on women: “A freelancer’s future employment is highly dependent on maintaining a good reputation with the people who hire them, rather than with the organization which awards them their contract. Raising concerns about bullying, harassment or unsafe working practices can therefore carry professional risks important – who would they go to with these issues? Workers may fear not only losing their current role, but also jeopardizing their careers.

Much has been made of the men around Brand who watched the attacks unfold and did nothing. One of the sexual assaults involved Brand grabbing a woman’s breasts in a busy Soho bar in 2004; another saw him pushing a victim against a wall, kissing her body and squeezing her breasts and buttocks in an “aggressive” manner – at the Capital Radio offices. Last week, a former associate of Brand’s, Jack Bayles, was accused of watching and laughing as the artist placed his head and nose in a colleague’s “vaginal area,” one of the assaults of which Brand was convicted. This happened while they were working on a Channel 4 project. (Bayles, whose credits include Michaela Coel I can destroy you and that of Kat Sadler Such brave girlshas been officially asked to “step aside” from his producing role as head of comedy at independent TV production company Divers Artists Limited.)

But this complainant spoke up immediately after Brand pushed his head into her groin. “This was kept quiet by senior management,” she said in her victim impact statement Monday. “It really affected me and if something similar had happened again, at the time, I know I wouldn’t have had the confidence to speak out again. There was a culture, at the time, that meant I felt I had to move on and not talk about it again.”

“(Brand) was considered a treasure, and every time he was fired, he was promoted to another position. He kept moving around, and I don’t think it’s because he’s very talented,” says Dr Ann Olivarius, a leading women’s rights lawyer and co-founder of McAllister Olivarius, a law firm working in the UK, US and Ireland. Brand has indeed found himself oscillating between roles on British television and radio: in the 2000s he hosted Big brother spin-off Big Brother’s big mouth and worked on The big quiz of the year, Russell Brand is in trouble And The Land of Reflections by Russell Brand. “His employers did not stop him,” continues Dr. Olivarius about his behavior. “Everything was well considered. What’s that old thing men say? ‘If you can get laid, then you’re lucky.’ I have yet to meet a woman who told me this.

Byrne believes, however, that the men working in these offices were also afraid of how speaking out could affect their careers, with the risk of retaliation being higher due to their independent status. “These contracts are often so short that people fear that you will not be asked for a response again, and that this will be circumvented…