Entertainment

Russell Brand gets 10 and a half years behind bars for rape and sexual assault

A London judge sentenced Russell Brand to 10 years and 6 months after his conviction for rape plus sexual assault. Two victims thanked police and prosecutors.

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Close-up of Russell Brand with long dark hair and a scruffy beard staring into the camera with wide eyes

Russell Brand is headed to prison for more than a decade.

A judge at Southwark Crown Court in London handed the comedian a sentence of 10 years and 6 months on Monday. Last week a jury convicted him of one rape plus three sexual assaults following a trial that lasted four weeks.

Before announcing the term the judge tore into Brand over how coldly he treated the three women at the center of the case. One victim had to relive her assault every time he popped up on television — made worse by his lies on the stand about groping her.

A judge's blistering remarks

Another woman was shoved against a wall with other people watching before he forced kisses on her and roughly groped her. The judge said he left her "humiliated."

The rape victim was left distraught plus terrified. According to the judge she spent the aftermath fearing she had been exposed to HIV.

Victims speak

Two of the women released statements once the hearing wrapped. One said she was "grateful" for the advocate assigned to her along with the officers who "took my testimony seriously" from day one. The other said simply: "I finally feel believed."

Inside the courtroom

Brand arrived in a tweed suit and was walked by two officers into the dock. He turned toward his wife Laura — seated just behind him between two friends — and asked her, "Are you ok?" His father Ron sat in the same row.

Jurors cleared him of two further rape counts plus one count of attempted indecent assault. London police have since said they are looking into two additional rape allegations — including a woman who says he sent a car to collect her from school when she was 16.

Musk weighs in early

Elon Musk jumped into the case on X on Sunday night before any sentence existed. Replying to a former British lawmaker who contrasted Brand with a man jailed for three years in a child sexual exploitation case, the billionaire wrote a single word: "Unjust."

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