The criminal trial of comedian and actor Russell Brand opened at Southwark Crown Court in London on 12 October 2026, where he faces seven charges of rape and sexual assault relating to six women. Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to all counts and maintains that his sexual relationships were always consensual.
A jury of eight men and four women was sworn in, with the prosecution opening its case on 14 October. The trial is expected to last between six and ten weeks. Brand arrived at court flanked by security guards and accompanied by his wife of nine years, Laura Gallacher, with whom he has three children.
The charges follow an 18-month police investigation triggered by a joint investigation published in September 2023 by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme, in which several women accused Brand of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. Brand issued a video denial at the time, saying that during his years of promiscuity his relationships had been 'absolutely always consensual' and suggesting there was a concerted agenda against him.
In April 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the first set of charges, covering alleged offences involving four women between 1999 and 2005: the rape of a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999, the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in Westminster in 2004, an indecent assault in 2001 and a further sexual assault between 2004 and 2005. Brand pleaded not guilty to those counts in May 2025.
In December 2025, prosecutors authorised two additional charges, one count of rape and one of sexual assault, involving two further women and alleged incidents in London in 2009. That brought the total to seven charges: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault, spanning the years 1999 to 2009. Brand again pleaded not guilty.
The case has been heard against the backdrop of Brand's dramatic career transformation. He rose to fame in Britain in the early 2000s as a stand-up comedian and broadcaster, hosting Big Brother's Big Mouth and shows on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music before building a Hollywood career with roles in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. In recent years he left mainstream media, moved to Florida and rebuilt a large online audience with videos mixing wellness content and commentary on current affairs, a presence that continued even as the criminal case advanced.
Prosecutors have alleged a pattern of predatory behaviour, including claims that Brand raped a woman in a Bournemouth hotel room during a Labour Party conference, groped a television worker and forced her into a sex act in a bathroom, and grabbed and kissed a radio station worker. Reporting restrictions limit what can be published while the jury deliberates, and the judge has warned jurors to ignore prior news coverage and not to research the case online.
Whatever the verdict, the trial marks a watershed moment for the British entertainment industry's reckoning with historical sexual misconduct allegations, and its outcome will be watched closely on both sides of the Atlantic.