Russell Brand, the former Big Brother host and Hollywood actor, is on trial in London for three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, according to the prosecution. The allegations, made by six women, cover a ten‑year period between 1999 and 2009. Brand denies all charges.
Riel Karmy‑Jones KC, representing the prosecution, opened the case by describing Brand as “ruthless” and a “sexual predator.” She told jurors that the complainants “did not know each other” and had “never met each other,” yet all came forward independently. “The circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career,” she said.
In a striking description, Karmy‑Jones said Brand was “nice when he wanted to be, funny – undoubtedly – charming, likeable even, when he wanted something in return,” but also “demanding, entitled, a flirt with a huge sexual appetite – childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met.” She added that he would sometimes appear “indifferent, normal and untroubled” after an encounter, leaving promptly or acting as if nothing had happened.
The court heard individual accounts. The first complainant claimed she met Brand before he was famous in 1999 at a Labour Party conference and was later raped. Brand allegedly denied remembering the incident. The second, an MTV employee, said he forced her into a bathroom and grabbed her forearm. The third alleged an oral rape in a toilet after a party in 2004. The fourth described a forced kiss and physical assault at Capital Radio. The fifth said Brand raped her anally after a consensual encounter at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009, and that he later texted her with aggressive language. The sixth alleged a forced massage in 2009, during which Brand allegedly placed his head in her groin area.
Brand’s former flatmate, Mark Pinheiro, testified that Brand admitted he may have “gone a bit too far” with a woman at the 1999 Labour Party conference. Pinheiro confirmed Brand’s own admission of potential excess.
Brand, who rose to fame as a stand‑up comedian and later starred in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, now lives in Florida. He was accompanied by his wife Laura to court.
The trial is expected to last six weeks, with the jury hearing the full testimonies before deliberation.
