Russell Brand found guilt of rape and sexual assault

RUSSELL BRAND faces years in prison after being found guilty of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women during his showbiz career. A jury at Southwark Crown Court found the 51-year-old former comedian, actor and media personality guilty today of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault after deliberating for eight-and-a-half hours. He was cleared of two counts of rape and one charge of attempted indecent assault. The jury convicted him of groping an MTV worker at a Soho bar party in 2004, kissing and groping a Capital Radio worker in 2005, raping a 21-year-old fan after a 2009 Hammersmith Apollo show and sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker in 2009. He was found not guilty of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. Mr Justice Bennathan said a “custodial sentence of some length will result” and set sentencing for Monday. Mr Brand had claimed to be the victim of a media conspiracy and insisted consent was “more important than sex itself.”