Russell Brand told one of his fans to “clean up the mess” after allegedly anally raping her at his home in north London, a court has been told.
On a busy day at London’s Southwark Crown Court, the jury heard from three of Brand’s six accusers. The court was played a 2024 video recording of a police interview with one woman, whom we are calling Complainant 5 (C5) as she has a lifelong right to anonymity. During the two-hour-long interview, C5 was frequently in tears and distressed as she relived her alleged encounter with Brand.
The Despicable Me star faces three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. He will set out his defense later in the trial, denies all charges, and has pleaded not guilty.
C5, who thought Brand was “interesting, articulate and intelligent about things that others would shy away from,” said she met Brand at one of his comedy gigs in 2009 at the Hammersmith Apollo. She was “invited upstairs for drinks,” after which she consensually performed oral sex on him but told him she didn’t want to have penetrative sex.
She said he took her number, “thought I’d never hear from him again,” but Brand kept messaging her and soon after she agreed to go to his house in Hampstead, north London.
She was driven to his home by a driver, let in by an associate of Brand’s and was told, “Russell’s on the phone to America.” Brand then came downstairs and told her, “This is the best decision you’ve ever made,” she said during the police interview, which was played to the jury to avoid C5 having to retell her story in the courtroom.
C5 alleged that Brand’s demeanor changed when they were kissing on his bed and he suddenly said, “You need to have a shower because your hair smells funny,” which “didn’t sound kind” but made her “feel like I was dirty.”
At first, C5 alleged she and Brand had consensual penetrative sex and Brand was using a condom. “I didn’t enjoy the experience because I felt like somebody was just f**king a hole,” she added. “I could have been anyone. It didn’t matter who I was.”
After having consensual sex for some time, C5 alleged Brand “turned me onto my front,” and she assumed he wanted to continue vaginal sex. Instead, she said he inserted his fingers into her anus before anally raping her, which she said was extremely painful.
C5 alleged Brand said to her, “I want you to feel my cum,” at which point he ejaculated inside her anus and she realized he had removed his condom.
After he was finished, she alleged Brand “looked absolutely horrified” and told her, “You need to clean up the mess that you’ve made.” He then left the room and his associate told her that Brand was performing another gig shortly and “whenever you are ready you can leave.”
C5 was in tears during the police interview when she said: “I went there knowing I would have sex with him and what I mean is vaginal penetrative sex. I went knowing that would happen. I want to make that clear because I’ve struggled to accept what happened to me because I went there knowingly and willingly.”
“He did not act like he’d done anything wrong”
That evening, she said she told her flatmate what had happened and was in so much pain she had to “sit on an ice cube tray.”
She was later told she had an anal tear and became convinced she had contracted HIV, for which she tested negative. “I wanted to just leave it all behind,” she told police. “I thought maybe he does that all the time. He did not act like he’d done anything wrong.”
Since the incident, C5 said she has struggled with alcohol addiction and went to rehab in 2023, during which time she opened up about the incident. Around that time, Channel 4 aired its Russell Brand: In Plain Sight documentary, which was a catalyst for her going to police.
“I’ve tried not thinking about it and it hasn’t worked, so whatever happens after this [police interview], I know I’ve sat in a room and said what happened to me,” she explained. “I just don’t want to die knowing that what he did to me I have not said to the right people.”
“I carried the feeling of guilt and shame”
C5 is the final Brand accuser to give evidence and took to the stand for questioning on Wednesday. All of the accusers came forward after watching the Channel 4 documentary, but none of them know each other, the prosecution has said.
Under questioning from Brand’s lawyer Ian Winter, C5, who gave evidence to the court from behind a screen, said she had “carried the burden” and “carried the feeling of guilt and shame” for years after the alleged attack.
She was repeatedly pressed by Winter on whether she had in fact consented to anal sex as well as vaginal sex with Brand, but continued to deny that this was the case.
“Just because you go somewhere willingly, that does not mean the outcome at the end is [necessarily] consensual,” she said. “I did not make the decision to have anal sex with Mr Brand. I did not make that decision. We never had a conversation about anal sex.”
The summer after the alleged rape took place, the court heard that C5 saw Brand from a distance at an event she was working at during the Edinburgh Festival. She said he texted her and she replied asking why he was messaging her, and Brand responded, “Because you’re dirty and I wanna push you further.” C5 said she then responded by saying, “I think you pushed me far enough, you treated me like an animal,” to which Brand then quickly apologized and the text conversation ended.
Pushed by Winter on why she didn’t tell Brand he had raped her, C5 said: “To give you that answer is really difficult.”
She was also pressed by Winter on how much she “adored” Brand, with Winter putting forward the idea several times that she was “obsessed” with Brand before she first met him at the Hammersmith Apollo.
“You knew he was extremely sexually active with multiple women?,” asked Winter, to which C5 replied: “Correct.”
“You knew he had won The Sun newspaper’s ‘Shagger of the Year’ award three years running,” Winter then asked.
“I don’t think I was aware of that,” replied C5.
The evidence from Brand’s accusers is now over and the court will return tomorrow with witnesses. The court has been told repeatedly that Brand declined to answer questions when interviewed by police. He instead relied on a prepared statement, in which he claimed that he did not recall meeting the women and did not remember their names. He said any sexual contact was consensual.
