Brand faces sentencing as police brace for at least 10 more victims

Russell Brand learns his fate Monday, and it is expected to be a long stretch behind bars. A jury convicted the 51-year-old Thursday of raping a young fan at his London townhouse in 2009, ignoring her pleas for him to stop after picking her out of a crowd. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting three women in separate incidents at a radio station, a recording studio and a bar. His victims are expected to describe the damage in court Monday before he is sentenced.

The reckoning is not done. Met police confirmed Thursday that Brand is under investigation over two further rape allegations, with detectives sending files to specialist rape prosecutors. Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force is open to more. According to the Guardian, police are bracing for at least 10 additional women to come forward, and next week the team that built the case starts sifting through reports and intelligence about other potential victims. Sources put the feared number in at least double digits, with 10 treated as a floor.

Rowley did not put a figure on it. Speaking on LBC Radio, he said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if many, many more come forward, and we’re open to that.” He noted that high-profile convictions tend to trigger a flood of new cases. Some of the intelligence about further victims is third-hand, and some women are reluctant to enter the criminal justice system at all. Brand was cleared of two other rape charges and one allegation of attempted indecent assault.

The trial, which covered claims stretching from 1999 to 2009, drew outrage over how victims were treated in the courtroom — defence lawyers asked women why they had not screamed during attacks. That sparked a push from victims’ commissioner Claire Waxman for a legal duty forcing judges to direct juries on rape myths, an idea the government says it will examine. A No 10 source said Prime Minister Andy Burnham believes the calls should be looked at. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said rape myths “have absolutely no place in our courts.”

Siobhan Blake, the CPS lead for rape and serious sexual offences, backed the shift: “The focus must be the actions of the perpetrator and not the behaviour of the victim.” She said there is no typical response to sexual assault, and that freezing or staying silent for months or years is not a barrier to justice.

Reaction poured in from both sides of Brand’s old life. Comedian Katherine Ryan, who had warned about a “predator” in the industry before the trial, said she felt relief but also grief. Bear Grylls, who baptised Brand when he converted to Christianity in 2024, said his faith had seemed genuine but that “it is right that justice has now been served.” Burnham called the crimes “horrifying” and praised the women and journalists who spoke out, adding that he had no idea of the full extent of Brand’s behaviour when he offered him public support more than a decade ago. Brand still faces years in prison — and the growing prospect of another trial.