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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Josh Payne

Russell Brand accused of ‘grabbing woman and dragging her to male toilet’

Comedian and actor Russell Brand is accused of sexually assaulting a woman by touching her breasts and indecently assaulting another by grabbing her arm and dragging her towards a male toilet, court documents show.

Brand, 49, who is understood to be living in the US, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault, relating to four separate women.

An investigation was launched after Brand was accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse by several women, in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches, in September 2023.

It is currently unclear whether Brand will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, but in a video posted on X after he was charged, the comedian said: “I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

He was also issued with a court summons.

Court documents which lay out the details of the charges show Brand is accused of indecently assaulting a woman in 2001 by “grabbing her arm and dragging her towards a male toilet” and sexually assaulting another woman in Westminster, London, in 2004, by touching her breasts without her consent.

Brand is also charged with orally raping the woman he is accused of sexually assaulting in 2004.

The comedian is further alleged to have raped a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area, and sexually assaulted another woman between 2004 and 2005 in Westminster.

Brand, who presented a BBC Radio 2 show between 2006 and 2008, left the role after his on-air prank, now known as Sachsgate, when he left a “lewd” voicemail for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.

He also presented on Big Brother spin-off shows Big Brother’s Big Mouth and Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack in the noughties.

The TV and film star was married to US pop singer Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012 but is now married to Laura Gallacher, the sister of presenter Kirsty, and the couple have two children, Mabel and Peggy.

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