Russell Brand called a ‘manipulative and ruthless sexual predator’ as rape trial begins

Russell Brand was a ‘ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator’ who viewed women as ‘a goal and obsession’, a court has heard.

The 51-year-old is accused of seven charges, including rape and sexual assault, against six different women between 1999 and 2009.

He denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Opening the case against him at Southwark Crown Court, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told jurors the six complainants crossed paths with Brand ‘when his career was beginning to flourish’.

‘His public profile was taking off as he was progressing from doing gigs as a stand-up comedian at pubs and clubs to a TV presenter, an actor, and Hollywood movie star,’ she said.

‘The circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career.

‘Offending took place in a number of locations: a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle in a bar and at his home address.

‘Some of the women involved protested and said no, others had no opportunity to react to his advances but it mattered not to the defendant.

‘Regardless of who they were and what they said or did, Russell Brand was not deterred.

‘His desire, strong desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious.

‘He would be nice when he wanted to be, funny – undoubtedly – charming, likeable even – when he wanted something in return – but then demanding, entitled, a flirt with a huge sexual appetite – childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met.

‘He was ruthless, calculated and manipulative, and the prosecution say – a sexual predator.’

Ms Karmy-Jones told jurors Brand’s ‘tactics’ were varied.

She told the court Brand would ‘tell women what they wanted to hear, be nice, be charming’, and to others he appeared to take an interest in a cause they were promoting.

‘Sometimes he might even have made sexual advances within minutes of meeting them,’ she said.

‘But every time he had identified his target, he was intent on trying to fulfil his sexual desire.

‘After the event, he would appear indifferent, normal and untroubled by what had occurred, sometimes leaving promptly after it, sometimes making an excuse to get away or sometimes simply continuing to act as though nothing wrong had happened.

‘He cared not who the woman was, or what state she was left in, or how he had left her feeling.

‘Uppermost in his mind was his insatiable desire to get what he wanted with whomever he wanted it from.’

Jurors heard one of the alleged victims told Brand that she ‘didn’t want to do this’ as he was raping her, and he is alleged to have replied: ‘Oh come on, come on, don’t be a spoilsport.’

‘To the defendant, women were simply a means to an end,’ added Ms Karmy-Jones.

She told the court a friend of Brand’s ‘in the early years’ described him as someone who ‘was rampant in his desire to have sex’.

Another recalled him being ‘very impulsive’ and of viewing women as ‘a goal and an obsession’, the prosecutor said.

‘Such comments provide you with an insight into what the defendant was like in his former years,’ she continued.

‘This is important because what you must bear in mind in this case is that, although you’re sat as jurors in Southwark Crown Court on October 14, 2026, listening to my opening address, you will be considering offences that took place between around 27 and 17 years ago, when the defendant was aged roughly between 24 and 33.

‘So the man who you will be considering in this trial is not the Mr Brand who is sitting in the dock, who is now 51.’

She added: ‘Over the years he may have changed both physically and as a person, however, despite that passage of time, his responsibility for wrongs done, crimes committed at a younger age remain the same.’

Brand started out as a stand-up comedian and his showbiz career took off when he was picked to front Big Brother spin-off shows on Channel 4.

The Essex-born entertainer became one of Britain’s best-known comedians in the 2000s and presented the 2007 Brit Awards, Comic Relief and the MTV Music Video Awards and hosted his own show on BBC Radio 2.

He made the move into Hollywood films with roles including an Arthur remake, comedy Get Him To The Greek, and 2012 musical comedy Rock Of Ages.

In recent years, he has moved into podcasting and online influencing, and now lives in Florida in the United States.

The trial continues.

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