Brand assaulted woman at radio station in 'frenzied' attack, court told

Russell Brand's fourth accuser has told a London court the entertainer sexually assaulted her at the radio station where she worked in front of his entourage, who did nothing.

Warning: this story contains details some people may find distressing.

Brand, 51, is on trial for three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault relating to six women over a 10-year period from 1999-2009.

He has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges and previously told police he never engaged in any non-consensual sexual activity.

Under UK law, the women are all granted lifelong anonymity by the court.

Brand's fourth accuser gave evidence on Tuesday, local time, and told the jury at Southwark Crown Court she was in the middle of her workday at Choice FM in the mid-2000s when the alleged assault happened.

She said she had walked out of one room and into another when she encountered Brand, whom she recognised straight away.

The woman described him as "an A-list celebrity" because he hosted a popular spin-off show about the hit reality TV show Big Brother at the time.

She told the jury Brand said "aye aye" to her before coming closer.

"He grabbed me by my face, started to kiss me, and when he was kissing me, he was pushing his body against mine," she told the court.

"He was just kissing me, very frenzied, it happened in a flash. There was no time for me to even understand what was going on. This was a perfect stranger."

The woman said Brand touched her on the bottom and breast and she felt "dirty, shocked and shaken" at the time. She said she was stunned because Brand's entourage of three men and one woman were right there.

"They did nothing ... I remember looking at the woman and she didn't say anything," the woman said.

She said she managed to push him off and loudly swore at him as she got away.

She reported the incident to police in 2023 after seeing allegations about Brand in a documentary and newspaper article.

Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, asked why she did not come forward at the time.

She said there was a "toxic" culture at her workplace, she feared no one would believe her, and she was worried that she would lose her job and would not be able to pay her mortgage.

The trial has also heard evidence from a woman who was working at Channel 4 at the time of an alleged assault in 2009.

She told the court Brand had become very unhappy during a project they were working on together and his two male colleagues suggested she give him a massage.

"He then comes into the room and lays his head into my lap," the woman said, adding she felt "really uncomfortable, really confused and shocked".

She reported the incident to her line manager.

The court also began hearing about the allegations on Tuesday relating to a sixth woman, with some of her police interview video being played to the jury.

In it, the woman told a detective she met Brand after one of his live shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, engaged in consensual oral sex with him in his dressing room after the performance, then was invited to his house the next week.

She said what started as consensual sex, changed suddenly into an activity she did not consent to.

"He didn't give me a warning, he didn't ask," she told the detective in the video.

"It was traumatic .. he hurt me and harmed me and when I asked him to stop, he didn't."