Women come forward with new allegations against Russell Brand

The fallout continues after claims of rape, sexual assault were levelled against Russell Brand, as police launch an inquiry and a literary agency severs ties.

British comedian and actor Russell Brand walks outside the Wembley Park Theatre, in northwest London on September 16. Picture: Reuters

More women have come forward with allegations about their treatment by Russell Brand after the entertainment industry was rocked by accusations of rape and sexual assault against the actor and former BBC presenter.

The Times and Sunday Times have been contacted by several women since Saturday with claims about Brand’s behaviour since the early 2000s.

The new allegations, which have not been investigated and will now be rigorously checked, come after four women, including one who was 16, alleged that they were sexually assaulted by Brand during the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013.

Russell Brand. Picture: Getty

In a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, others also made a range of accusations about Brand’s controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.

Brand has denied the allegations and said his relationships have all been consensual.

On Sunday night one of the alleged victims, who is being referred to as Nadia and claims that Brand raped her in 2012 at his Los Angeles home, told of her relief that her and other women’s allegations were being heard.

“He cannot hurt me any more and hopefully he will not hurt anybody else,” she said, while encouraging women to speak out if they felt strong enough. “I’m super-proud of all the women who have come forward. I know how hard it is - thinking ‘I’m the only one’ and ‘Who is going to believe me’. It was all very hard to read and to watch but I think it’s very necessary - because he needs to be stopped.”

Other developments:

- The Metropolitan Police said it had begun inquiries in to Brand’s alleged mistreatment of women and called on any victims to speak to officers.

- The BBC announced its own investigation amid new claims that Brand used the broadcaster’s car service to pick up a 16-year-old girl from school so that she could visit him at his home.

- Channel 4 also began an investigation into its former presenter, and a TV production company started an “urgent internal investigation”, saying it would “co-operate with any requests for information from broadcast partners and external agencies”. Channel 4 removed Brand’s content from its streaming service.

- A leading domestic abuse charity ended its ties with the comedian, saying that it was “deeply saddened and upset” to learn about the allegations.

- The literary agency Tavistock Wood said it had terminated all professional ties to Brand.

It was revealed this weekend that Brand had been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse.

Nadia alleges that Brand raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home in July 2012 and medical records show that she was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day. Text messages show that after leaving his home she told Brand that she felt taken advantage of and wrote: “When a girl say[s] NO it means no.” Brand replied saying he was “very sorry”.

Last night (Sunday) Nadia said that she had spoken publicly because she cares deeply about women’s safety. She told The Times: “I don’t feel like a victim now, I feel like a survivor - I’m glad I’m on the other side of it. I’m stronger.”

Asked if she would encourage other women with allegations about Brand to come forward, she said: “If they feel ready, and it’s not going to traumatise them too much, come forward.”

The women who have alleged sexual assaults by Brand do not know each other. They said they felt ready to speak only after being approached by reporters. Many felt compelled to speak because of Brand’s reinvention as an influencer with millions of web followers.

A Met spokesman said: “We are aware of media reporting of a series of allegations of sexual assault. At this time, we have not received any reports in relation to this. If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault we would encourage them to contact police.”

The BBC has also begun an investigation and said: “Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”

Brand, 48, is in the middle of a stand-up tour. After the first reports into his treatment of women were published, he appeared on Saturday at a London theatre, and received support from many of his dedicated fans. One of the planned tour gigs, in Plymouth next week, was due to be in collaboration with Trevi, a domestic abuse charity. The charity said it was “deeply saddened and upset” to learn about the allegations and had stopped its work with him.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief prosecutor, praised the reporting by The Times and Sunday Times as a “meticulously researched and sourced investigation”.

The Times and The Sunday Times gave Brand eight days within which to reply to allegations. Lawyers for Brand initially said that they were not in a position to provide any response because we had posed a “large litany of questions” and had intentionally chosen to anonymise the names of the women. Pressed to provide a full response, the same lawyers did not reply.

When given further opportunity to respond, Brand broadcast a statement on his YouTube channel saying “amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute”.

With Paul Morgan-Bentley, Mario Ledwith

The Times