Russell Brand was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars today in a dramatic final court appearance before he was sent to prison.
The disgraced former comedian, 51, was convicted by jurors last week of one count of rape and three of sexual assault, and sentenced today to spend 10 years and six months behind bars. The sentence was read out before Brand and his wife, Laura Gallacher, who tearfully left Southwark Crown Court after her husband was imprisoned.
She was seen in court engaging in an emotional final exchange with Brand. Now, it will be down to her to tell her three young children where their father is — and why he will not be coming home for many years.
Below are the key moments from the trial’s conclusion today:
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Follow our live coverage of Russell Brand’s sentencing here
The Brands’ ‘I love you’ exchange
One of the final exchanges made by Brand and his wife saw the two say “I love you” to one another before the now convicted rapist was sent down. Ms Gallacher was on the verge of tears in court, as her husband’s barrister revealed she was standing by the disgraced comedian.
Ms Gallacher and Brand exchanged several glances throughout the hearing, and she appeared to mouth “I love you” toward him when he first entered the court.
As Brand was convicted of one rape and three sexual assaults on Thursday, Ms Gallacher left the court in tears. She returned to court on Monday to see her husband being sentenced to 10 and a half years for rape and three sexual assaults.
Ms Gallacher told Brand “I love you”, and he said to her as he was led away to the cells: “We’ll be OK.”
Laura Gallacher shakes her head during witness statement
Ms Gallacher was seen shaking her head as the victim’s impact statements were read out in court ahead of her husband’s sentencing.
The hearing began with a series of harrowing impact statements from Brand’s victims. One said she was left in “shock and turmoil” and lost “respect for herself”. Another victims described Brand as a “sexual predator with no remorse.”
The woman who Brand raped in 2009 said she feared she had contracted HIV from him and has been ‘living with trauma’ ever since her ordeal. Ms Gallacher was seen shaking her head as the messages were read out.
Brand clutches his rosary beads
Brand, who was described as “emotionlesss” as he returned to the stand today, appeared to express himself through body language while he was up there. He seemed impassive during the final hearing, and had no reaction to the witness statement which left his wife shaking her head.
But what he didn’t show on his face he expressed through white rosary beads the born again Christian was holding in his hands.
He was running the beads through his fingers, and clutched them tightly when the sentence was read out earlier this morning. Rosary beads, which are attached to a band, are used by followers of the Christian faith to count prayers and guide meditation.
The defence barrister’s ‘victim blaming’
Russell Brand received enthusiastic defence from barrister Ian Winter KC, who took a series of controversial moves during the trial.
At one point, Mr Winter – who has since referred himself to the bar after a heated confrontation with a Times journalist following Brand’s conviction – told jurors considering the case that “none of the complainants had in his words ‘resisted, screamed or even tried to leave'”.
That, Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC, was “very close to victim blaming, which is something we’ve thought very hard about in policing and make sure we don’t do”.
Brand’s dad shock victims statement
Brand was also defended to the hilt by his dad, Ronald Henry Brand, who gave an impassioned statement for his son outside the court on Monday. After Brand was found guilty of raping a woman and on a further three counts of sexual assault, he bizarrely suggested it was his son who was the victim.
Asked if he had a message for his son’s victims, he said: “The victim? What, you mean Russell?” He then added he didn’t believe in the justice system.
He said: “I don’t believe (the justice system) on the basis of what I’ve just watched.” He suggested it was possible the jury was “corrupted”. Asked whether he believes his son will be able to cope in prison, the dad said: “Yeah. He’s strong. He’s strong.” And speaking of Ms Gallacher, he added: “She’s strong as well.”
The harrowing testimony
During Brand’s trial, testimony was heard regarding offences committed against staff at Channel 4, MTV and Capital Radio which took place between 2004 and 2009. One victim, who previously worked for Channel 4, said there was a “culture at the time” which meant she felt she should not talk about the incident any more.
She said: “I became more wary of working relationships with people I did not know. I feel like I was quite innocent before and this burst that bubble.
“I felt powerless in that moment, and it had a knock-on effect on my confidence because I felt like I had no control on that day and there was nothing I could do about what he did to me. Immediately after the incident I spoke up, and sadly it was brushed under the carpet by senior management.
“This really affected me and had something similar happened again at that time, I know I would not have had the confidence to speak up again.”
A former Capital Radio staffer told the court Brand kissed her “sloppily”, groped her body, and just laughed when she eventually managed to push him away when she bumped into him in a corridor in 2005. Brand was also found guilty by the jury of sexually assaulting an MTV worker in a Soho bar in 2004 during a birthday party.
Brand, wearing a “weird maniacal grin”, grabbed the woman’s breasts within seconds of meeting her.
Brand’s acquittals
The focus of the trial has been Brand’s convictions, but he was also acquitted of several charges when the jury returned their verdicts. He was acquitted of two additional rape charges, and an allegation of attempted indecent assault.
The judge’s poignant final remarks
Mr Justice Joel Bennathan, the judge overseeing the Brand case, delivered piognant remarks on women’s rights, both in being able to say no to sexual advances and receive justice for crimes committed against them by sexual predators.
The judge said: “Lastly, the prosecution suggested that the victim in count 3 was ‘particularly vulnerable’ as she had had a few drinks, and they say the same of the victim in count 6, because she was 11 years your junior and she admired you.
“In your trial I saw both women give evidence at length. They were both accomplished women who took perfectly reasonable decisions to go to a party and have a few drinks, or to go to your house for one type of consensual sex.
“They were no more or less vulnerable than any adult woman making those choices. I pause to add and stress at once, the fact they did so in no way shape or form diminishes your culpability for sexually assaulting one and raping the other.
“Whatever women wear, wherever they go, indeed whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and to demand justice from the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent.”
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