The 22 questions the jury needs to answer to convict or clear Russell Brand

Russell Brand raped and sexually assaulted women while treating them as ‘disposable commodities’ and ‘amusements in his playground of orgasms’, his trial was told today.

Brand, 51, is accused of attacking women in a hotel room, at his luxury London home, in their workplaces, and in a Soho bar toilet.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told Southwark Crown Court Brand liked to exercise ‘control’ over them, and felt ‘disdain’ towards them as he pursued his goal of having sex with 5,000 women.

She pointed jurors to his 2007 book, where he discussed his ‘birthright orgasm’, and a 2017 interview Brand gave when he referred to women as ‘amusements’ in a ‘playground of orgasms’.

Giving her closing speech to the jury today, Ms Karmy-Jones said Brand ‘snapped’ from charming to nasty as he attacked the six women.

She said neither knew the others and none have anything to gain by coming forward except the ‘closure’ of speaking out about the encounters with Brand which have ‘haunted them for years’.

Ms Karmy-Jones told jurors the women described a similar pattern of behavior from the comedian that started with compliments, flattery and flirting before a ‘personality change’.

She said: ‘His eyes changed, he snapped, from charming to frightening to nasty.’

Ms Karmy-Jones said the women had claimed Brand ‘didn’t listen when (they) said no, he didn’t stop, he didn’t care, pulling, pushing, tugging, thrusting’.
‘In the rape cases, he kept on going until he achieved his ultimate aim.’

The prosecutor said of one complainant allegedly raped by Brand that she was ‘just a hole, just another number to add to his 5,000 notches which he was marking up’.

Concluding her speech, Ms Karmy-Jones KC told jurors: ‘Women as a whole were disposable, they didn’t matter to him.

‘He didn’t even need to know their names. They were just a means to an end.

‘As he said in a 2017 interview, they were the amusements in what he described as his playground of orgasms.

‘We suggest you will be satisfied so you are sure that the six complainants you have heard from told you the truth, not an invented truth, not a reimagined truth, but the real truth of what happened to them.

‘The whole truth, and nothing but the truth and we invite you to find him guilty on all counts.’

The jury is expected to retire to begin its deliberations on Tuesday.

Earlier, judge Mr Justice Bennathan took them through 22 questions to answer during their decision-making on the seven allegations against Brand.

He told them they should reach unanimous verdicts and there would be ‘no pressure of time’ to reach their decisions.

How has Brand responded to the allegations?

Brand gave evidence on Wednesday, saying consent is ‘more important than sex itself’ and denying forcing any of the women into sexual activity.

He told the court it was ‘devastating’ when he was first accused of rape and sexual misconduct in 2023 media reporting by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches.

Under questioning, Brand conceded he blames the media ‘in some ways’ for the criminal charges he now faces.

Here is what he said in response to each of the allegations he faces:

– labor party conference

A woman who attended the 1999 labor party conference says Brand raped her in a hotel room after she had watched him perform in a cabaret show.

In his evidence, Brand told that court that he remembers meeting the ‘vivacious’ woman and that when she asked him to go to her hotel room, he thought ‘at the bare minimum it was better than sleeping in the shared accommodation’.

Brand added that he thought ‘there’s at least the possibility of sex’.

The defendant said he does not recall jumping around on the woman’s hotel bed like an ‘ostrich’, but said he did ‘mess around, fool around and show off a lot’.

Brand told jurors he would have asked the woman repeatedly during sex in the 1999 encounter if she was enjoying it.

He said: ‘I believe the kind of thing I would have been saying would include “am I doing this right? Do you like this? Is this OK? Are you enjoying this? Is this all right?”

‘Things like that, really, in order to elicit approval.

‘At that point it wasn’t a particularly familiar situation. I don’t recall another situation where an older woman had asked me back to their hotel room.’

The court previously heard that the complainant thought Brand might have been gay.

Asked by defense barrister Ian Winter KC if it is ‘possible’ that he portrayed himself in this way, Brand said: ‘I don’t think so.’

– MTV offices

An MTV worker gave evidence that Brand tried to drag her into a toilet at the central London offices where she worked in 2001.

In his evidence, Brand denied having any memory of the alleged attempted indecent assault.

When asked by his barrister whether he ‘intended any non-consensual assault, sexual or otherwise’ on the woman at MTV, Brand replied softly: ‘Of course not.’

– Soho bar

Brand is accused of groping a woman during a birthday party at a Soho bar, then dragging her to the toilet and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

The woman said she had been talking to the TV presenter at the Nordic Bar for less than a minute when he ‘lunged’ forward and grabbed hold of her breasts.

Brand told jurors that he remembered his friend introducing the third complainant at the bar, telling the court the man said something to the effect of: ‘There’s a bird here who really wants to meet you, mate.’

Questioned on how she behaved when she met him, Brand said she was ‘wide-eyed’ and ‘flirty’.

Asked whether there was any question he grabbed the woman’s breast shortly after meeting her, Brand replied: ‘Absolutely not.’

Brand said he remembered going into the bathroom with the woman, but denied grabbing her by the arm and forcing her inside with him.

When asked by Ms Karmy-Jones KC what he was inviting her into the toilet for, he said: ‘For fooling around, making out.’

His accuser has told the court she recalls being ushered into a car with Brand after being sexually assaulted and raped, as they headed to another bar in Camden.

Brand told the court the woman had got into his car ‘completely voluntarily’ and he remembers being at the second bar.

– Radio station

One of the staffers at Choice FM in London told the court she was pinned against a wall, groped and subjected to ‘sloppy’ kisses by Brand in 2005.

His barrister asked the defendant: ‘In your view, jumping on a woman and sloppily kissing her, does that turn you on sexually?’

‘No,’ Brand said.

The defense barrister continued: ‘Is that likely to lead to any sexual intercourse with a woman?’

‘No,’ the defendant replied.

Mr Winter then asked: ‘Did you do what she said you did?’ to which Brand responded: ‘No.’

Brand said he could not recall the woman during his evidence.

– Hammersmith Apollo

Brand is accused of raping a 21-year-old fan a few days after they met at his 2009 stand-up comedy show at the Hammersmith Apollo in west London.

The woman said Brand picked her out in the foyer after the show, invited her and two other women backstage, and she willingly engaged in a threesome with the star.

She later texted with Brand and agreed willingly to go to his Hampstead townhouse to have sex.

The woman said the consensual sex was ‘awkward’ and then she alleges Brand raped her by having unwanted anal sex.

Brand said he would pick out people after gigs and invite them to the bar but said he could not remember picking out this complainant.

He told jurors the woman had not said ‘no’ or told him to stop as they were having sex.

Brand said he had not forced her into anal sex, he described her attitude as ‘coquettishness, coyness’, and he said she had never complained of pain.

During his evidence, Brand was accused by the prosecutor of ‘rough and violent’ sex with the young fan at his home.

‘The whole action was rough and violent, and just about your pleasure, wasn’t it?’ said Ms Karmy-Jones.

Brand replied: ‘It potentially was about my pleasure, but it was not rough or violent.’

– Channel 4 massage

The final allegation against Brand is that he put his head into a woman’s lap when she had been forced to give him a massage.

The incident is said to have happened at the filming for a Channel 4 project in 2009, when Brand grew unhappy as the recording wore on.

Brand was asked by his barrister whether seeking a massage in these circumstance brings him sexual gratification, which he denied.

He was asked: ‘From what she has told us, was there anything sexual in your conduct or behavior or intentions in relation to that matter?’

Brand responded: ‘No.’

The defendant said he ‘couldn’t see what benefit would be derived’ from putting his head in the woman’s lap.

– Other things he said

Brand said during his evidence that the effect of the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary has been ‘devastating’.

Brand said his ‘entire life has been consumed’ by the allegations against him.

He said that consent is ‘non-negotiable’ and is ‘more important than sex itself’.

Ms Karmy-Jones accused Brand of staying silent on the accusations in his police interviews so that he ‘forged’ his account around the evidence.

‘Were you waiting to see all that evidence before you gave your account?’ she asked.

Brand replied: ‘I was doing my best to participate.’

The trial continues on Monday when Brand’s barrister Mr Winter will give his closing speech, followed by a summing up of the evidence by the judge.

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