On his first night as a convicted man, Russell Brand is said to have been accompanied by a chaplain at HMP Wandsworth prison in south-west London.
The British comedian was baptized in the river Thames in 2024 and has since this spring run the Christian podcast "Sunday service with The Brands" together with his wife Laura Brand.
On Thursday, he was sentenced, despite his denial, to one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. After being refused bail, he was taken to Wandsworth in a white prisoner transport. For security reasons, he has been kept separate from the other 1,500 inmates at the prison.
For the last time during the process, he arrived on Monday morning at Southwark crown court in London to be notified of the sentence. Unlike during the four-week trial, he was not dressed in tailored suits, polished leather boots and knee-length silk scarves, but a simple black blazer.
He is sentenced to a total of ten years and six months in prison. Summing up the case, Judge Joel Bennathan called Russell Brand's behavior between 1999 and 2009 "astonishingly arrogant."
- It has left a lasting mark on my life. Russell Brand has managed to move on and even forget that he subjected me to a violent sexual assault in a very public place, in front of other people, one of the victims told the court before the sentence was announced.
The debate that followed the trial has been about two things: who in the entertainment industry turned a blind eye to or supported the comedian, and how the women have been treated in court. Mainly by Russell Brands lawyer Ian Winter.
In his closing arguments last week, he argued that the plaintiffs were influenced by the Channel 4 and The Sunday Times joint review "Russell Brand. In plain sight", which aired in 2023.
The lawyer argued that they were neither trustworthy nor acted independently and argued that no abuse had been committed because none of the women "resisted or screamed".
Ian Winter's closing plea has received criticism from the highest places. The chief of the Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, has said that the argument borders on victim blaming - and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to review the trial.
- I believe that we must continuously review how rape trials are conducted, to ensure that the woman does not feel that she is the one who is on trial, Burnham said on Times Radio on Saturday.
The most severe sentence for rape in the UK is life imprisonment.
Judge Joel Bennathan said in his statement that what emerged in the review from 2023 did not play a role in sentencing.
Russell Brand is being investigated by the police for further cases of rape.
Over the weekend, a number of women have written and spoken out in British newspapers and TV panels about their encounters with Russell Brand over the years. That the comedian had an almost insatiable sexual drive and used his platform and status to "get" women is well known. In the early 2000s, the tabloid newspaper The Sun named him "shagger of the year", "fucker of the year", three years in a row.
After the custodial sentence was announced, Russell Brand was taken to a cell in the basement of the court and then back to Wandsworth Prison where he will begin serving his sentence. The prison, which was built in 1851, is notorious for lack of hygiene facilities and high drug use.
