Russell Brand due to be sentenced for rape and sexual assaults
Comedian and actor Russell Brand is due to be sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court in London after being found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
A jury of eight men and four women convicted the 51-year-old on Thursday after a trial that began in October. The court heard allegations dating from 1999 to 2009, during the height of his broadcasting and film career.
The jury found he raped one woman in 2009 and sexually assaulted three others, including female TV and radio workers, between 2004 and 2009. He was acquitted of two further rape charges and one allegation of attempted indecent assault, out of seven charges in total.
Brand denied all the charges and maintained that every encounter was consensual. After the verdicts, the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told him to expect a significant custodial term. Rape carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in Britain.
The former comedian, once one of Britain's most high-profile broadcasters, had a long public history of battles with drugs and alcohol before turning in recent years to online commentary.
UPDATE: At Monday's sentencing hearing, women he assaulted told the court Brand was a 'sexual predator' who had caused them lasting suffering. Brand, 51, dressed in grey, sat in the dock at Southwark Crown Court, occasionally turning to look at his wife in the public gallery.
One victim read her impact statement in person from behind a screen. Saying Brand sexually assaulted her in 2004, she tearfully told the court she had carried an undeserved sense of shame for more than 20 years; he was convicted of sexual assault on that charge and acquitted of rape. Another woman, assaulted in 2004 or 2005, called him 'a sexual predator with no sense of remorse', while a third, assaulted in 2009, said his fame made it hard to escape reminders of what happened. Judge Joel Bennathan warned last week to expect a lengthy prison term; sentence is expected shortly. The Metropolitan Police are meanwhile investigating two further allegations, including one involving a girl who was 16 at the time.
