Sexual Predator Russell Brand Jailed for 10 Years, 6 Months
Comedian Russell Brand was jailed for 10 years and six months at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday for rape and three sexual assaults. The judge told him he had become a sexual predator and had lied at trial. Brand showed no emotion as the sentence was read.
Comedian and actor Russell Brand was jailed for 10 years and six months at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday, November 9, 2026, after a judge called him a sexual predator. Brand, 51, was convicted of one rape and three sexual assaults.
Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand had displayed a "casual, arrogant disregard of any woman's right to say no." He said Brand had told the trial "a series of lies."
What the judge said
"About 20 years ago, Russell Brand, you were becoming famous. You were clever – and in many people's eyes, funny and charismatic. You had also become a sexual predator," the judge said.
He added that Brand's celebrity status protected him until 2023. That year, journalists collected and published allegations that empowered women to come forward.
The judge also paid tribute to the "determination and bravery" of the women who gave evidence. "Whatever women wear, wherever they go, whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no," he said.
The convictions
A jury found Brand guilty last week after a four-week trial. The four offences involved four women between 2004 and 2009. Brand was cleared of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.
The rape conviction relates to a fan who was 21 when Brand raped her at his north London home in 2009. She told the court that consensual sex changed suddenly into something she did not agree to, and that she begged him to stop. "She was a huge fan of yours, which you were happy to exploit," the judge said.
The first sexual assault conviction involved a woman at a birthday party in Soho, London, in 2004. Brand had said at trial that he never touched a woman sexually without consent. The judge said the verdicts showed that was untrue.
Another conviction involved a woman at the radio station Choice FM, assaulted in front of Brand's entourage. The judge said his companions "no doubt" thought it was outrageous laddish behavior, but it was also a criminal sexual offence.
The final conviction concerned a woman Brand was working with on a Channel 4 project in 2009. He demanded a massage and put his head in her crotch while two colleagues watched. The judge said the episode "reeks of casual disrespect."
In court
Brand had pleaded not guilty to all charges. He stood still and showed no emotion as the sentence was read. As court officers led him away, he mouthed to his wife, Laura, that he would be OK. She closed her eyes and put her head down, and later left the court in tears.
Victim impact statements were read before sentencing. The woman raped by Brand said: "Even now, I feel that I am living with the trauma of what happened." Under UK law, all four complainants have lifelong anonymity.
Further developments
After the verdicts, the Metropolitan Police said Brand was under investigation over two further rape allegations.
On Monday evening, Jemima Goldsmith, who dated Brand for roughly a year around 2014, accused him on X of "violence, coercive control and abuse." She said she was "glad and relieved" he had "finally faced justice." Goldsmith said she had to call police to remove him from her house in 2014 but chose not to press charges.
