Comedian Russell Brand was a sexual predator, UK prosecutors say

British actor and comedian Russell Brand sexually abused six women between 1999 and 2009, prosecutors told a London court on Wednesday, as his trial began on charges including rape and sexual assault.

Brand, 51, faces three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault relating to six women. He denies all the allegations and is expected to present his defence later in the trial.

“I feel blessed,” Brand said as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court in London. “I feel of course concerned but hopeful that this process will lead to good outcomes for everybody involved.”

Opening the prosecution's case, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said the women had encountered Brand through their jobs, work-related social events or performances.

Some of the women had protested and explicitly told him no, while others had no opportunity to react to his advances. Their responses made no difference to him, she said.

“His desire, his strong desire, for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious,” Karmy-Jones told the court.

She described Brand as someone who could be charming, funny and likeable when it suited him, but who could also be demanding and entitled.

“He was ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative and, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator,” she said.

The alleged incidents took place at various locations, including a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle in a bar and Brand’s home, the court heard.

“He cared not who the woman was, what state she was left in or how he had left her feeling,” Karmy-Jones said.

The women did not know one another and had not reported the allegations to police at the time for various reasons, she said.

They came forward after a television programme and a press report in 2023 published allegations against Brand by other accusers who are not involved in the current trial.

Brand sat in the dock wearing a dark suit and a thin white scarf as the proceedings began. The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

He became one of Britain's most prominent broadcasters during the 2000s, regularly appearing on television and working as a radio presenter for the BBC.

He later starred in several films, including Get Him to the Greek in 2010. That year, he married US singer Katy Perry. The couple divorced in 2012 after 14 months of marriage.

In recent years, Brand has mainly appeared in online broadcasts, with content often focusing on US politics, religion and freedom of speech.