Convicted rapist Russell Brand spends first night in cell and faces years more

Russell Brand is spending his first night in a cell ahead of a potentially years-long imprisonment, after he was convicted of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women during his showbiz heyday.

Brand, now 51, preyed on women he encountered while becoming one of Britain’s best-known stand-up comedians, a lauded TV and radio host, and a Hollywood movie star.

His victims came to court to reveal how Brand had forced them into sexual activity, sometimes within seconds of them first meeting, using his fame to determinedly pursue a goal of sex with 5,000 women.

On Thursday at Southwark Crown Court, a jury found him guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

Press photographers surround a prison van as it leaves Southwark Crown Court (James Manning/PA)

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He was cleared of two further charges of rape and one allegation of attempted indecent assault.

The shamed comedian-turned-conspiracy theorist will spend the weekend in custody before he returns to the same court on Monday to learn his prison sentence.

His wife Laura Gallacher, who attended much of the trial, was seen to hunch over in the public gallery as Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand that he now faces an inevitable and lengthy jail term.

His barrister, Ian Winter KC, lost his plea for Brand to be given bail over the weekend as an “act of humanity” so that he could say goodbye to his children, with the judge refusing it through fears he would flee instead of returning to court.

Russell Brand and his wife Laura Gallacher arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday (James Manning/PA)

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Brand loudly replied “yes My Lord” when he was remanded into custody, just more than three years after he was first exposed as a rapist and sexual predator.

The Met has also confirmed investigations are ongoing into two allegations of rape made against Brand.

At pre-trial court hearings, it was revealed one of the complaints comes from a woman who dated Brand when he was 30 and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

A couple of months after he started hosting Big Brother’s Big Mouth in 2004, Brand sexually assaulted a woman in the Nordic bar in Soho, central London, by grabbing her breasts in the middle of the bar during a party of his former MTV colleagues.

She accused him of dragging her to the men’s toilets and orally raping her, but the jury found Brand not guilty on that count.

A worker at Capital Radio said Brand forced himself on to her during a visit to the station in 2005, pinning her to a wall while he groped and “sloppily” kissed her.

Brand was found guilty of sexually assaulting her. The victim told jurors that members of his entourage laughed as they saw the attack happen.

He was also convicted of anally raping a 21-year-old superfan in his £2.3 million Hampstead townhouse in 2009, days after meeting her at one of his Hammersmith Apollo shows.

The same year, during a recording session at Channel 4, Brand sexually assaulted another woman by thrusting his head into her groin after she was told to give him a massage.

In September 2023, an investigation by journalists from The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches published accusations from women who said they had been raped, sexual abused, and degraded by Brand.

The revelations prompted four women to come forward to accuse Brand of criminal offences, while another two women came forward once Brand had been charged.