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British comedian and actor Russell Brand was sentenced Monday to a total of 10 years and six months behind bars, following his convictions for rape and sexual assault involving four women.
Justice Joel Bennathan called Brand a “sexual predator” with “staggering arrogance” and said he has “contempt” for his sexual partners, as he handed down the sentence. He added that Brand will likely serve around two-thirds of his sentence.
Before Brand left the courtroom, he reportedly turned to his wife and mouthed, “I love you.”
Brand, 51, was found guilty Thursday following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. The jury convicted him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, while acquitting him of two additional rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.
The offenses occurred between 2004 and 2009. Brand denied the charges, maintaining that his sexual encounters were consensual.
The “Get Him to the Greek” star was known in Hollywood for his promiscuity and womanizing for years before embracing Christianity and publicly renouncing his former lifestyle. Brand has said his faith led him to view his past sexual behavior as sinful, describing himself as a “hedonist and a fool” and an “exploiter of women.”
“What fame gave me, and what my addiction fueled, was opportunity for endless consent,” he said this past April in an interview with Megyn Kelly. “That is wrong, and that is something that needs to be redeemed and addressed and atoned for. … Sex is a very powerful thing, it’s a gift, and I misused it.”
As Brand entered the courtroom Monday, he reportedly mouthed to his wife, Laura Brand, “Are you okay?” Later, as he exited the dock during a break in proceedings, Laura looked toward him and mouthed, “I love you,” according to the BBC. Brand was also seen holding white rosary beads during the proceedings.
Prosecutors urged the court to impose a lengthy prison sentence, using a starting point of 12 years, arguing that Brand abused the power and influence that came with his celebrity status to gain access to women. They said his conduct caused lasting psychological harm to his victims.
One victim described Brand as a “sexual predator who has no remorse for how his behavior has impacted my life,” according to a statement read in court by the prosecutor. “I just hope he is not allowed to hurt any more women.”
A separate victim delivered her statement in person from behind a curtain so she could only be seen by the judge. “I just want to say, a leopard may change its spots, but it’s still a leopard,” she said.
Brand’s attorney, Ian Winter KC, argued for leniency, telling the court that Brand was a “fundamentally different person” today than he was when the offenses occurred. Winter described the incidents as isolated and said Brand was “a man that went too far” and told the judge that “a lot of people have been helped, in often lifesaving ways, by Mr. Brand.”
Winter also urged the judge to consider Brand’s family, including the devastation his wife was experiencing and the difficulty of explaining the convictions to their three young children, ages 10, 8, and 3. He described Brand as a man of “effectively good character.”
The convictions stemmed from four separate incidents. In 2004, Brand grabbed a woman’s breasts at a London bar shortly after meeting her at a birthday party in Soho. In 2004 or 2005, he grabbed another woman’s face and kissed her before touching her breasts and buttocks at the Choice FM radio studios. In 2009, days after meeting a woman following a comedy performance at the Hammersmith Apollo, Brand had consensual sex with her at his Hampstead home before anally raping her. The woman told the court, “He hurt me and harmed me and when I asked him to stop he didn’t.” Also in 2009, while working on a Channel 4 project, Brand placed his head against the groin of a woman working with him without her consent.
None of the women have been named publicly.
The Metropolitan Police have said additional allegations against Brand remain under investigation and authorities have encouraged other potential victims to come forward following the convictions.
