Russell Brand: Six More Women Allege Sexual Misconduct

Six more women have accused Russell Brand of sexual misconduct, according to a Times UK investigation published on Friday. The allegations span 2005 to 2015, a period beginning after the conduct covered in his rape and sexual assault trial.

The report comes nearly four weeks after a London jury found Brand guilty on four of seven charges. He was not guilty on two additional rape counts and one attempted indecent assault count. On Monday, the actor received a sentence of 10 years and six months in prison.

What do the six new allegations involve?

The Times said it could not publish the claims while Brand stood trial because doing so could prejudice the jury. The new report covers a 10-year span, from 2005 to 2015, and extends six years beyond the most recent incident in the case heard at trial.

Those trial allegations covered 2004 to 2009. The Times’ new report starts in 2005 and ends in 2015.

The six accounts describe distinct encounters and patterns of alleged non-consensual conduct:

• A 2005 music festival: A woman, then in her mid-twenties, said Brand approached her and said: “Please, I just need to have sex with you. I will pay you.”
• A BBC Music competition winner’s appearance on Brand’s show: The winner became a guest on his program a year after the 2005 festival account. She and Brand saw each other casually over the following year. During a visit to his home, she said, Brand demanded that she lick his toilet seat. She refused. “[He] seemed pissed off that I wouldn’t let him humiliate me,” she told the Times.
• A London venue: Another woman, who worked at a venue frequented by Brand, said another staff member told her that Brand wanted her to bring him toilet paper while he was in the disabled bathroom. When she reached the darkened bathroom to hand it over, she said, Brand grabbed her.
• Contraception: One woman said Brand would not stop having sex with her despite not wearing a condom.
• Pain: Another woman said Brand would not stop having sex with her even after she told him to stop because it hurt.

The Times identified the first three accusers through details of their accounts, including a BBC Music competition and a London venue. It did not name the women.

How do the new claims relate to the police investigation?

It remains unclear whether any of the six accusers are among the women who came forward to police with additional allegations against Brand beyond those in the charges at trial. The Metropolitan Police investigation into Brand remains ongoing.

That uncertainty leaves two separate strands in the case. One covers the seven counts a jury considered in London. The other covers allegations the police continue to examine.

The sentencing on Monday followed the guilty verdict from the previous week. The jury convicted Brand on one rape count and three sexual assault counts. The jury acquitted him on two further rape counts and one attempted indecent assault count.

Why did the Times wait to publish?

The newspaper published its latest investigation on Friday, according to the report. Legal restrictions prevented it from printing the newest claims during the trial, the Times said, because publication could prejudice the jury.

The claims therefore emerged only after the verdict and sentence. The timing accounts for the lag between the 2015 endpoint of the new allegations and the report’s Friday publication.

What does the case change?

The six accounts broaden the period under scrutiny rather than expand the number of charges. A trial covering 2004 to 2009 has now been followed by reporting on alleged conduct from 2005 to 2015. The overlap runs for five years.

The conviction and sentence remain fixed: four guilty verdicts out of seven counts, followed by 10 years and six months in prison. The new material concerns conduct outside those charges.

The police investigation will determine whether the six accounts connect to the additional allegations already reported to officers. The Times’ publication sets out the claims; it does not establish whether police will charge Brand with further offenses.

The next test of the case now sits with the investigators. The six new accounts give the continuing inquiry a wider documented timeline.