The 51-year-old is accused of groping women and forcing them into sexual acts, in allegations which date from 1999 to 2009
Russell Brand faces a total of seven charges – including rape and sexual assault – after being accused by six women.
The 51-year-old is accused of groping women and forcing them into sexual acts, in allegations which date from 1999 to 2009.
A jury was selected at Southwark Crown Court across two days on Monday and Tuesday, and today prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC has opened the case against Brand.
She told the court: “He was ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative, and the prosecution say he was a sexual predator.”
Brand faces three allegations of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one allegation of indecent assault. He denies all the charges.
Previous court hearings have been told how Brand is accused of raping a woman in a hotel room at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. It is said he grabbed a TV worker’s breasts and forced her into a sex act in a toilet, and allegedly kissed and groped a radio station worker.
The first alleged rape is claimed to have taken place in Bournemouth in 1999. A woman allegedly came out of the bathroom in her hotel room to find Brand ‘partially undressed’ and ‘prancing’ around the room, before he is said to have raped her.
The second alleged offence, which is of indecent assault, relates to an MTV worker in 2001. Brand is claimed to have grabbed the woman, before trying to get her to join him in the toilets.
A third woman alleged oral rape against Brand in a toilet in Soho in 2004. The woman involved also claims Brand sexually assaulted her by squeezing her breasts.
The fourth alleged victim says there was an incident in 2004 or 2005 at a radio station. Ms Karmy-Jones told the heard Brand is claimed to have pushed the woman against a wall before kissing her ‘sloppily and aggressively’.
A fifth alleged victim was a fan who met Brand after seeing his show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London with a friend in 2009. She was invited for drinks backstage where she performed oral sex on Brand during a threesome with another girl. The next day Brand invited her to his address where they had consensual sex. It is alleged that afterwards he raped her.
The sixth and final victim claims she was allegedly assaulted in 2009 while Brand was filming for a Channel 4 project.
The Essex-born entertainer 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.
He 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. Brand has been supported at court by his wife Laura Gallacher.
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