Russell Brand accused of rape after Labour Party conference
Russell Brand has appeared in court for the first time, accused of sex offences including raping a woman after a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.
Wearing a black shirt, jeans and brown boots, the comedian and actor, 49, did not enter pleas at Westminster magistrates' court but previously he has said that he is innocent.
JOSHUA BRATT FOR THE TIMES
Brand did not submit a plea
ELIZABETH COOK/PA
Suki Dhadda, for the prosecution, told the 12-minute hearing that Brand faces two charges of rape, two charges of sexual assault and one charge of indecent assault.
The allegations relate to four women.
Brand arrived at court with Oliver Schneider-Sikorsky, the solicitor who successfully defended Kevin Spacey against sex assault allegations in 2023.
Brand had travelled from his home in the US for the hearing.
The court heard that Brand is alleged to have raped a woman in September 1999 at her hotel after he met her at an event during the Labour conference.
It is alleged that while the woman went to the bathroom, Brand removed some of his clothing and asked her to take photographs of him.
Brand then allegedly pushed her onto the bed, pulled down her trousers and underwear and raped her. He allegedly left her with an email address.
The prosecutor said the second complainant, a television worker, accuses Brand of indecent assault and alleges he tried to drag her into a men's toilet in London in 2001.
The third alleged victim, another television worker, claims Brand orally raped her and sexually assaulted her at a Soho bar in 2004. It is alleged that he grabbed the complainant's breasts and pulled her into a toilet, where he made her perform a sex act on him.
The fourth complainant, a radio worker, claims that in 2004 or 2005, while Brand was working as a presenter on the TV show Big Brother's Big Mouth, he grabbed her by the face, 'sloppily' kissed her and grabbed her breast and buttocks.
Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, released Brand on conditional bail and sent the case to the Old Bailey for a hearing on May 30.
The judge told him: 'Mr Brand you face a number of allegations, five in total. Some of them are what would be called indictable only — the court must then send them to the crown court for trial.'
He told Brand he would next be 'sitting at the Central Criminal Court, which you might know as the Old Bailey, for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 30 May'.
The judge added: 'You are obliged to attend on that date. If you don't, and there's not a good reason for that, you potentially face an offence of failing to surrender and the court will almost certainly issue a warrant for your arrest. You could go to prison or be fined or both. Thank you very much, you are free to go.'
Brand replied: 'Thank you.'
He was accompanied to court by an unnamed man who was baptised with him in the River Thames last year.
The police investigation followed an investigation by The Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in 2023 into Brand's alleged mistreatment of women. He denied the allegations at the time.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
The Jaws test: We're going to need a bigger boat for political sharks
But what do you know, the kid stayed on the picture, the shark scared the popcorn out of audiences, and the score by John Williams will live forever. The picture won three Oscars. It deserved double. Spielberg went on to his next project, a modest something or other about aliens, and the rest is probably being discussed on a podcast somewhere in the distant universe. The moral of the Jaws story is that things can be turned around. What earns brickbats one day can come up roses the next. There endeth the lesson, or so it seemed. As I watched the film again the other day, it occurred to me that Jaws had more to teach us about modern politics and those who swim in its waters. Let's be topical and start with Rachel Reeves. In the Commons today, just after PMQs, the Chancellor will deliver her spending review. Having U-turned on pensioners' winter fuel payments, Ms Reeves must hope that she can put some distance between herself and the worst decision of any government in its first months in office, far less a Labour one. But pensioners, and Labour MPs, have long memories. That was evident on the doorsteps of Hamilton, regardless of the eventual wafer-thin win. The subject will surface again if Ms Reeves comes for personal independence payments (PIP), a lifeline for so many disabled people. The U-turn on winter fuel could run into trouble. Paying the allowance to all, then clawing it back from some, is a plan that's fraught with difficulties. Ms Reeves will get through today, but she must know this is not over. The idea that she can go into the next election, however distant, as Chancellor, is ridiculous. Such is the ill feeling caused by scrapping the winter fuel payments, nothing less than her resignation will put it right. Even her boss knows that. So no, Ms Reeves. It might look calm out there, but it is not safe to go back in the water. Have a paddle close to shore, and get out at a time that suits you. Another takeaway from Jaws is that all politicians can be placed in one of two categories. The first lot are led by Mayor Larry Vaughn, played in the movie by Murray Hamilton. The elected leader of the fictional Amity Island is worried that the great white terrorising his shores is bad for business. Whatever it takes, he wants everyone back in the water on the 4th of July, having a good time. Warning him in the strongest possible terms against this is police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider). He wants to wait for the experts (Dreyfuss and Shaw's oceanographer Matt Hooper and Navy veteran Quint) to do their thing before he declares the sea safe. Boris Johnson is an obvious Mayor Vaughn. Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, JD Vance, every blowhard who ever appealed for common sense to prevail. Nicola Sturgeon and gender recognition reform is a Mayor Vaughn: wave after wave of supporters, sent to their doom. Her? Didn't even get the ends of her hair wet. John Swinney at the Hamilton by-election: it's only us and Reform out there, nothing to worry about. Total Mayor Vaughn. What of the police chief Brodys? Keir Starmer is one, even if he is clueless at reading the political weather. He will warn against going in the water initially, but then suddenly everything is fine, much like with the economy. Liberal Democrats, Greens - Brodys forever, though the latter cannot be trusted with making the arrangements to close the beach. Whatever the plan, it will cost three times as much and they will screw it up anyway. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, in Jaws (1975) (Image: free) Moving on to Quint, the grizzled veteran who has seen some sights in his time as a shark hunter and has the 1000-yard stare to prove it. Jim Sillars and Alex Neil come to mind. Know-all Hooper is every young buck who has never had a job outside politics. There are too many of those to choose from. The shark? Take your pick. It could be a person (Putin the obvious choice) or an event (climate change catastrophe). Either way, it's coming, and it's not going to stop till you can see its dead black eyes. Not that this is any reason to change our ways any time soon. Goodness no, we have all the time in the world for that. Jaws had its US release on June 20, 1975. In the UK we had to wait till Boxing Day to see what the fuss was about. It was one of the first films I saw in the cinema and I love it still. The only regret is that it spread misinformation about sharks, even though the term 'fake news' did not exist then. Sharks don't hunt humans. They don't bear grudges. They are not 25 feet long. Spielberg himself told Desert Island Discs in 2022: 'I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film.' He's done his bit, alongside conservationists, to increase shark numbers. Things can turn out okay after all. If it has been a while since you last saw Jaws, it will be on ITV4 at 9.05pm on Friday, June 20. It's a special birthday screening, all welcome, especially current and former First Ministers. Alison Rowat is a Herald columnist and writer
Telegraph
12 hours ago
- Telegraph
Rayner: rough sleeping will no longer be a crime
Rough sleeping is to be decriminalised as the Government abolishes a 200-year-old law that made it illegal. The Vagrancy Act, introduced in 1824 to tackle a homelessness crisis after the Industrial Revolution, is to be repealed by next spring, Angela Rayner has announced. The Deputy Prime Minister said the move would 'draw a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support'. It means it will no longer be an offence to sleep on a pavement, despite rising levels of homelessness across England. It raises the prospect of homeless people being able to freely camp on city centre streets. However, Labour is pledging to increase funding for homelessness services with an extra £233 million this financial year to provide alternatives to rough sleeping. New laws to protect the public will also be introduced to target organised begging by gangs, and trespassing with the intention to commit a crime. Announcing the moves, Ms Rayner said the aim was to tackle the root causes of homelessness, rather than criminalise the vulnerable. 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again,' she said. The Vagrancy Act was designed to punish 'idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds, in England' as Britain faced rising homelessness after the Napoleonic wars and the Industrial Revolution. Most parts of the Act have been repealed but some remain in force in England and Wales to enable police to move on rather than prosecute rough sleepers and tackle begging. Charities have reported an increase in homelessness, with Shelter estimating there are 326,000 people, including 161,500 children, in England who are homeless, a 14 per cent increase on the previous year. It has led to encampments sprouting up in some of the most prosperous areas of cities. Last September, rough sleepers set up an encampment of 24 tents on Park Lane, adjacent to a property selling for £16.5 million. London has the highest rate of homelessness. The number of people classed as living on the streets in the capital has risen by more than a third (38 per cent) year on year – to 706 from 511 – according to figures for April. The number recorded as sleeping rough in London has also increased by 8 per cent, to 4,427 in the three months to March this year, from 4,118 in the same quarter last year. The UK's decision to decriminalise rough sleeping contrasts with the US, where the Supreme Court last summer gave cities the green light to crack down on homeless encampments. The US, in particular San Francisco, has been blighted by homelessness, leaving cities struggling with large tented encampments and drug problems. The Supreme Court ruled that cities enforcing anti-camping bans did not violate the constitution's eighth amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, even if homeless people had nowhere else to go. The judgment has resulted in rules including barring sleeping bags, forcing homeless people to move 300 feet every hour and making it illegal to camp anywhere at any time. Ms Rayner's department said the extra £233 million this financial year would bring total investment for 2025-26 to nearly £1 billion. It said this would prevent more families from ending up in temporary accommodation and 'tackle rough sleeping head-on'. It comes as separate Telegraph analysis suggested foreign-born heads of households in London cost Britain around £3.6 billion a year in discounted rent. Rushanara Ali, the homelessness minister, said: 'Scrapping the Vagrancy Act for good is another step forward in our mission to tackle homelessness in all its forms, by focusing our efforts on its root causes.' Amendments to the Government's Crime and Policing Bill will plug the gaps left by the repeal of the Vagrancy Act. These will create new offences of facilitating begging for gain and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously included under the 1824 Act. In 2023, the Prince of Wales launched a five-year programme to work towards eradicating homelessness. He previously discussed the issue with Sir Keir Starmer and has served meals to homeless people and sold copies of the Big Issue on the street to raise awareness. Matt Downie, the chief executive of Crisis, the homelessness charity, said: 'This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety.' Emma Haddad, the St Mungo's chief executive, said the Act's repeal 'cannot come soon enough' and called for a 'focus on tackling the health, housing and wider societal issues that are causing homelessness in the first place'. Youth homelessness charity Centrepoint warned that a challenge would be 'ensuring that proposed amendments don't have the unintended consequences of punishing people instead of supporting them'.
BBC News
12 hours ago
- BBC News
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised in England and Wales
Rough sleeping will be decriminalised next year under government plans to scrap a 200-year-old are planning to scrap the Vagrancy Act, which outlaws rough sleeping in England and law was introduced in 1824 to deal with rising homelessness, but Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has called it "cruel and outdated".The government's plan includes new legislation which will target crimes such as organised begging by gangs and trespassing, a statement said. Rayner, who is also housing secretary, said Labour was "drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society"."No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again," she number of prosecutions and convictions under the 1824 act has declined over the past to government statistics, there were a total of 79 prosecutions and 59 convictions for offences related to rough sleeping in 2023 - down from a peak of 1,050 and 810 respectively in the Vagrancy Act was first announced in 2022 by the previous Conservative government. It had wanted to pass alternative legislation first, but this did not happen before the general election was called last party's Criminal Justice Bill would have allowed police to move on "nuisance" rough sleepers and fine them if they did not comply. The Labour government said it plans to replace the Vagrancy Act with "targeted measures" that will "ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe".These measures, which will be introduced through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, will include new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a charities have long called for the Vagrancy Act to be chief executive Matt Downie said: "This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety."He praised the government for having "shown such principled leadership in scrapping this pernicious Act".He said: "We hope this signals a completely different approach to helping people forced onto the streets and clears the way for a positive agenda that is about supporting people who desperately want to move on in life and fulfil their potential."
