Editor’s note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find distressing.
An indecent assault charge against Russell Brand has been reduced as the prosecution wraps its case at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
The judge told jurors there was “insufficient evidence” for the charge and it has instead been reduced to attempted indecent assault. The jury went through the formalities of finding Brand not guilty on the now-replaced charge. There are six other charges.
The charge concerned complainant 2 in the Brand trial – who we are calling C2 as she has a lifelong right to anonymity – who said that she was working for MTV in London at the time and had been showing him where the toilets were when he attempted to pull her into the bathroom. “I said, ‘What are you doing? Are you mad? Let me go’, and then he started to plead almost, saying, ‘Go on, go on, come in’,” she told the court 11 days ago.
Brand had sex “in countless locations and scenarios”
The judge reduced the charge on the final full day of the prosecution’s case, although a few loose ends will be wrapped up tomorrow morning.
Before the charge was reduced, the court heard several statements Brand made at the start of four different police interviews from between 2023 and 2025 about the allegations, during which he repeatedly denied all charges while saying he “had sexual encounters in countless locations and scenarios, often with people I had just met.”
Brand faces three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and now one of attempted indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. His team will set out his defense from tomorrow, and he denies all charges and has pleaded not guilty. Deadline has been reporting daily from a live video feed of the courtroom since the trial began.
Brand, who could take the stand tomorrow, used these pre-prepared statements to police to say he “led a very promiscuous life, which I have spent years openly denouncing.” He slammed the 2023 Channel 4 documentary and The Times report about the allegations as “defamatory” and “fictitious,” which he said had “invited additional allegations to be made” that were “invented or reimagined.” “The magnitude of promiscuity deceptively rendered in recent media attacks have caused consensual encounters to be reframed decades later,” Brand told police.
Brand said he “did not recall the names of the complainants or meeting them,” but added it is “entirely possible that I may have encountered them and we my have engaged in consensual sexual activity that has since been reimagined.”
“I have had consensual sex in toilet cubicles at parties but have never forced anyone into a toilet or forced my penis into anyone’s mouth,” he said in one statement responding to an allegation from complainant C3 in the trial, who alleges she was orally raped by Brand.
In a different police interview, the court heard that Brand said he “had sexual encounters in countless locations and scenarios, often with people I had just met,” but again stressed that these were all consensual.
“At live shows, press events and junkets I did my best to be accessible, non-discriminatory and loving,” he told police. “I spent lots of time at these events. I have shared kisses with hundreds of members of the public during these events and hundreds of photos are available online. Everything I did in public could be photographed once I was famous and could end up in the tabloids. I was aware of this. I routinely made provocative jokes or comments both with members of the public and during live performances and broadcasts.”
At the end of each of these pre-prepared statements to police, the court heard how Brand said he did not intend to respond to any police questions “without sufficient time to consider the information to answer accurately.”
Brand could take the stand tomorrow as his defense begins. This is anticipated to last another two to three weeks.
The trial continues.