Russell Brand has been found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault over the course of his career following a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
A sentencing hearing will be held on Monday, but Mr Justice Bennathan told Russell Brand that he should expect a custodial sentence before remanding him into custody. "You've been convicted of a number of offences including rape," he said. "The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term. My current view is that I therefore have to remand you into custody."
© Getty ImagesAhead of the verdicts, Russell's wife, Laura Gallacher, was seen in the public gallery. She was joined by a second woman, who the BBC reports was seen holding her hand.
The trial began on 12 October, and over three weeks, the jury has heard evidence from the complainants, and witnesses, as well as testimony from Russell, who had denied all of the allegations.
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Why was Russell Brand on trial?
In 2023, a joint invesitgation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches saw five women accuse Russell of sexual assault and rape, as well as coercive and emotional abuse. The investigation into the 51-year-old began in 2020, and the Sunday Times and Dispatches have spoken not only to the women bringing the allegations, but also other sources including friends and family of his ex-girlfriends, fellow comedians and people who have worked with him on either TV or the radio.
In April 2025, he was charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area and the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in the Westminster area of London.
© GettyHe was also charged with indecently assaulting a woman in 2001 and sexually assaulting another woman between 2004 and 2005. Both offences allegedly took place in Westminster, London.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised two additional charges - one count of rape and one of sexual assault involving two more women - in December 2025, bringing the total to seven charges across six women. Russell has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
At the time of the investigation, Russell said: "These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual.
"I was always transparent about that then – almost too transparent – and I'm being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question: Is there another agenda at play? It feels to me like there's a serious and concerted agenda to control these kinds of spaces and these kinds of voices."
