Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault. On Thursday, 5 November 2026, a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London convicted the 51-year-old comedian and actor of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The convictions relate to offences against women between 2004 and 2009.
He was cleared of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. Judge Joel Bennathan refused him bail and remanded him into custody. Brand is due to be sentenced on Monday, and the judge told him he faces a lengthy prison term.
What the jury heard
Over a four-week trial, the court heard from six women, none of whom knew each other. All of them have lifelong anonymity under UK law. They came forward after a 2023 investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches, The Times and The Sunday Times made the first allegations against Brand public.
According to reports from the court:
- The rape conviction relates to a woman who met Brand after a gig and later went to his home in 2009. She told the court that what began as consensual sex became rape. Afterwards, she said, he told her to clean up the blood.
- One sexual assault took place at a party in a London bar in 2004. A woman said he grabbed her breasts less than a minute after meeting her.
- Another involved a woman working at a radio station in 2004 or 2005. She said he assaulted her in front of his entourage.
- A third sexual assault was against a woman working on a promotional project, in front of two of her colleagues.
Lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors that Brand’s evidence showed “a flavour of disdain” toward the women. Prosecutors described him as a “ruthless” sexual predator who used women to satisfy his own desires.
Brand’s defence
Brand pleaded not guilty to every charge and denied all of the allegations throughout. He told the court the encounters were consensual, or that the women’s accounts had been reinvented or re-imagined. He admitted to a past of “reckless philandering and idiocy” but insisted that consent mattered to him. Outside court, he had suggested the case was part of a coordinated attack on his newer work as an online political commentator.
The jury convicted him on four of the seven counts.
What the police said
As his profile grew, so too did his sense of entitlement.
Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, Metropolitan Police
Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy called the verdict “a testament to the extraordinary courage, resilience and determination of the women” who came forward. Detective Inspector Laura Nelson, who led the investigation, went further:
My opinion is that he is a sexual predator and he has abused his power throughout his career.
Detective Inspector Laura Nelson
Police say they are still investigating two further rape allegations against Brand, and files have been passed to prosecutors.
How the case reached court
- September 2023: Dispatches, The Times and The Sunday Times publish allegations from several women. The Metropolitan Police open an investigation.
- April 2025: Brand is charged with rape, indecent assault and sexual assault.
- May 2025: He pleads not guilty at Southwark Crown Court.
- December 2025: Police charge him with two further sexual offences.
- February 2026: He pleads not guilty to the new charges.
- Autumn 2026: The four-week trial is held at Southwark Crown Court.
- 5 November 2026: The jury returns guilty verdicts on four counts. Brand is taken into custody.
From comedy stages to the dock
Brand built his career in stand-up before becoming one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters. He hosted a Big Brother spin-off on Channel 4 and wrote about his addictions in his 2007 memoir, My Booky Wook. He then moved into Hollywood with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek and Arthur, and his marriage to Katy Perry kept him in the headlines. In recent years, he left mainstream TV and film to become an anti-establishment commentator online.
Comedy has always defended its right to push boundaries on stage. This verdict is about what happened offstage, and about six women who were finally heard.
If you have been affected by sexual violence, in the UK you can contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222, and in the US you can contact RAINN on 800-656-4673.
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