Russell Brand convicted of rape and three sexual assaults, to be sentenced Monday

A jury at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday found comedian and actor Russell Brand, 51, guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, according to the Metropolitan Police, Al Jazeera and CBC News. The verdict was also carried by AP, Reuters, CNN, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal.

What the jury decided

• Convicted: one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, involving four women.
• Acquitted: two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.
• Jury: eight men and four women, who deliberated for more than eight hours over two days, CBC reported. The Met Police describes the verdict as unanimous.
• Period: the Met says the offences took place between 2004 and 2009. The trial covered allegations from 1999 to 2009, per Al Jazeera.

Brand had denied all charges. He told the court that the encounters were consensual or that the allegations were untrue, and said he had never forced anyone to do something against their will, according to CBC and Al Jazeera.

Custody and sentencing

Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand faces a "significant" prison term. Brand had been on bail and was taken into custody after the verdict. He will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, November 9. No sentence has been set, and we are not predicting one.

How the case began

The Met says its investigation started after allegations were reported by Channel 4's Dispatches, The Times and The Sunday Times in September 2023. Detectives traced more than 100 witnesses, took more than 400 witness statements and reviewed more than 1,400 documents. The complainants have lifelong anonymity under UK law, and we do not describe them.

Senior Crown prosecutor David Roberts said in a statement shared with CBC that Brand "was predatory and used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes." Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy of the Met said the conviction sends a message that nobody is above the law. Brand's lawyer had not responded to CBC's request for comment at the time of its report.

The business footprint

Brand rose through British stand-up, television and radio and appeared in Hollywood films. In recent years he moved away from mainstream media to a large online following built on video, CBC reported. We have not found a primary source on any commercial consequence of the verdict, such as platform, advertiser or contract decisions, so we are not reporting one. If a platform or company announces action tied to the conviction, we will update this story.

We will update this story after Monday's sentencing hearing.

Sources: Metropolitan Police newsroom release; Al Jazeera, November 5, 2026; CBC News, November 5, 2026. Verdict also reported by AP, Reuters, CNN, NBC News and WSJ. Photo: Mark Freeman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. If you have been affected by sexual violence, Rape Crisis (England and Wales) offers independent support.