Russell Brand Convicted in London

By Arthur Reed — Syndicated News

LONDON, November 5, 2026 — British comedian and actor Russell Brand was convicted Thursday at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The jury acquitted him of two other rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault. Brand had denied all seven charges.

The rape conviction concerned a woman who described visiting Brand’s home in 2009 after an earlier encounter following a performance. According to Reuters’ account of her testimony, she said he subjected her to nonconsensual anal penetration during otherwise consensual sex. The jury found him guilty of rape in that incident.

One sexual-assault conviction concerned a woman who met Brand at a London bar in 2004. She testified that he grabbed her breasts and pulled her toward the toilets, where she also alleged rape. The jury convicted him of sexual assault but acquitted him of the separate rape charge involving that woman.

Another woman described Brand pushing her against a wall at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005, kissing her and painfully grabbing her breasts. A third described an incident during a recording project in 2009, when she said he pressed his head into her groin while she was giving him a massage. Both incidents resulted in sexual-assault convictions, Reuters reported.

The Metropolitan Police said investigators interviewed more than 100 witnesses, collected over 400 witness statements and reviewed more than 1,400 documents. Officers reconstructed timelines and examined historical floor plans and photographs. Police said no CCTV or forensic evidence was available for these historical allegations; the investigation instead sought evidence supporting and testing the women’s accounts.

The guilty verdicts establish criminal responsibility on four counts. They do not reveal precisely how jurors weighed each piece of evidence. The two rape acquittals and attempted-indecent-assault acquittal must be reported separately, rather than treating every allegation heard during the trial as proven.

Brand maintained that he had not forced anyone into sexual activity. His defense challenged the allegations and argued that encounters were consensual or had been reframed. Public reporting of allegations in September 2023 prompted the police investigation that ultimately led to the trial.

Judge Joel Bennathan ordered Brand held in custody pending sentencing, according to The Associated Press. The Metropolitan Police confirmed sentencing was scheduled for Monday, November 9, at Southwark Crown Court. A sentence had not yet been imposed in the reporting available Thursday morning.