Russell Brand, Katy Perry's ex, sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for rape and sexual assault

British actor and comedian Russell Brand has been sentenced to ten and a half years in prison. This has been ruled by the London court of Southwark, after being found guilty last Thursday of one crime of rape and three of sexual assault committed against four women between 2004 and 2009.

Brand, who remained in pre-trial detention pending sentencing, was found guilty of anally raping a 21-year-old fan whom he met after a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in 2009; of kissing and groping a Capital Radio employee in a hallway at the station in 2005; of touching the breasts of an MTV worker during a party in a Soho bar in 2004, and of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 employee during a recording in 2009, whom he asked for a massage.

The jury acquitted him, however, of two other charges of rape and one of attempted indecent assault, not considering them proven.

A total of six women denounced the actor for crimes committed between 1999 and 2009 in a trial that began on October 14 and lasted until November 5. In it, the victims, Brand's former collaborators, and his current wife, Laura, who often accompanied him in the courtroom and testified in his defense, testified.

The process was held after in September 2023 a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 released the testimonies of several women, other than those in this trial, who reported abuse by the artist.

During the trial, his lawyer, Ian Winter, defended his innocence and, although he acknowledged that his client had led a promiscuous and libertine life, he maintained that the relationships were always consensual. He questioned whether a fair trial could be held after extensive media coverage and alleged that "the well of justice is polluted."

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones argued for her part that the accused had adapted his story, as he initially assured the Police that he did not recognize the complainants, but later admitted that he remembered them when he believed that this could favor his defense.

Along with those of the victims, Karmy-Jones presented the testimonies of former assistants and friends, who painted a portrait of a man who put his desires before any limits. The prosecutor also read passages from his autobiography My Booky Wook (2007), in which Brand wrote: "If I want something - whether it's a job or a woman - I will determinedly and resolutely push aside everything that stands in the way until I possess the object of my desire."