\n<\/p>\n
Police have received further criminal allegations against Russell Brand since the start of his trial.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan police said several people had been in contact during and since the conclusion of the 51-year-old\u2019s rape and sexual assault case.<\/p>\n
The force said those who had been in contact had either provided further information or reported potential criminal allegations.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said: \u201cSeveral people have contacted the investigation team during and since the trial to provide information or report a potential criminal allegation. Detectives are assessing this information as part of their ongoing inquiries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge in Brand\u2019s trial, Mr Justice Bennathan, praised the bravery of the women who had come forward with evidence that led to his conviction.<\/p>\n
But the way the victims were questioned by the disgraced comedian\u2019s legal representative, Ian Winter KC, has been criticised in recent days.<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, described the cross-examination as \u201cdepressing\u201d, saying she believed the courts had \u201clong gone past that sort of culture\u201d.<\/p>\n
Powell, who is also the education secretary, said that she regretted a meeting the former party leader Ed Miliband had with Brand in 2015 when she was Labour\u2019s campaign chief.<\/p>\n
Brand was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday for raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others, including at their workplaces.<\/p>\n
Powell was asked on LBC radio about Brand\u2019s defence in court, during which Winter suggested he must be innocent because none of his victims had \u201cresisted or screamed or even tried to leave\u201d. Winter also said the anal rape of a 21-year-old woman was a \u201cshort and momentary failure\u201d where \u201che did not respect her consent\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Ian Winter KC leaves Southwark crown court after Russell Brand\u2019s sentencing. <\/span> Photograph: Tayfun Salci<\/p>\n Asked if that was reminiscent of the attitude of the 1950s, Powell said she had been shocked at some of what took place in the courtroom, while praising the judge\u2019s words. \u201cI found reading some of that incredibly sort of depressing. I thought we\u2019d long gone past that sort of culture and that phase of things.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the judge\u2019s remarks were also incredibly powerful in sentencing: that it doesn\u2019t matter what you wear, how you behaved, how drunk you are, you know, you have the right to give your consent or not give your consent. And if it\u2019s not given, then that is rape and that is a sexual offence, pure and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n The BBC\u2019s director general, Matt Brittin, wrote to the corporation\u2019s staff to say that he wanted to ensure any concerns raised about workplace culture were heard \u201cat the highest level\u201d. His intervention followed criticism that Brand\u2019s troubling behaviour had not been challenged properly during his time at the broadcaster.<\/p>\n Brittin said in his email that there had been valid criticism levelled at the media industry over its workplace culture after Brand\u2019s conviction and recent allegations of antisemitism at the BBC.<\/p>\n Brand, who had stints as a presenter on BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 in 2006 and 2007, once joked on air about exposing himself to a woman moments before his show was broadcast. He also described one BBC boss, who has since left the broadcaster, as \u201cincredibly tolerant\u201d of his behaviour.<\/p>\n Brittin said the BBC and the wider media industry had made progress in improving culture, but that there was \u201cstill more to do to engage with staff and represent their views and concerns at the highest level\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/span>Free newsletter |<\/span>Around 2-3 times a day<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News UK<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News UK email to get newsletter alerts direct to your inbox<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Brittin said he was looking at changes to improve culture that could be made immediately and as part of the next BBC charter being discussed with ministers.<\/p>\n The BBC published a review in 2025 that found some staff had felt unable to speak out because of Brand\u2019s status and power. The corporation repeated its apology this week.<\/p>\n After the treatment of some of Brand\u2019s accusers during his trial, Powell said the government had taken steps in guidance to challenge myths about rape and victim-blaming in court. \u201cBut clearly, a lot more needs to be done because I think many of us were really shocked that that could still take place in a courtroom today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Lucy Powell said a lot more needed to be done to challenge myths around rape and victim-blaming in court.<\/span> Photograph: Jordan Pettitt\/PA<\/p>\n At sentencing, the judge criticised Brand, saying the women had been subjected to additional suffering because of the conduct in court \u201con your instructions\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever women wear, wherever they go, whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and demand justice in the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Mr Brand, act without their consent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Powell said she and Miliband regretted that he had done an interview with Brand in 2015 during the hype around Revolution, Brand\u2019s book on politics. At the time the interview took place, Brand had resigned from his BBC Radio 2 show for leaving a series of lewd messages on actor Andrew Sachs\u2019 answerphone about his granddaughter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a long time ago, obviously, and had I or Ed Miliband or anybody at the time had any sense at all that this was someone who was a sexual predator, who was involved in these sorts of crimes,\u201d she told Sky News, anyone who was involved in promoting him would \u201clook back and really regret that, knowing today what we now know\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked about her role in setting up the interview, Powell said she had not understood the full extent of his sexual conduct that was already in the public domain \u2013 such as in his autobiography. \u201cIf there was any suggestion at all we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time then, of course, no one would have done that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as I say, he was a well-known public figure. Lots of people, from Hollywood to the BBC to many others, gave this person a very, very powerful platform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police have received further criminal allegations against Russell Brand since the start of his trial. The Metropolitan police said several people had been in contact during and since the conclusion of the 51-year-old\u2019s rape and sexual assault case. The force said those who had been in contact had either provided further information or reported potential<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[3361,243,4516,1551,2632,4773],"class_list":{"0":"post-52631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-allegations","9":"tag-brand","10":"tag-criminal","11":"tag-police","12":"tag-receive","13":"tag-russell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}