Judge reduces Russell Brand indecent assault charge as prosecution closes case

Mixed · 2On Tuesday 27 October 2026, at Southwark Crown Court in London, Mr Justice Bennathan told jurors there was "insufficient evidence" for an indecent assault charge against Russell Brand, and the count was replaced with a lesser one of attempted indecent assault. 1 2 Mixed · 2Jurors were directed to return a not guilty verdict on the original count, and a juror formally delivered it; the judge called this a "slightly artificial process", and Brand pleaded not guilty to the new count. 2 1 Right · 1The judge said his task at the close of the prosecution case was not to decide whether the evidence is accurate or whether the defendant is guilty, but whether there is evidence on which a jury could return a verdict. 2

Mixed · 2The count concerns a woman who worked for MTV and who says that in 2001 Brand grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her into a toilet; she has lifelong anonymity and is referred to as C2. 1 3 Mixed · 2Brand was charged with three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, based on allegations from six women dating from 1999 to 2009; he denies all charges. 3 2 Left · 1Other allegations include a rape in a Bournemouth hotel room in 1999, an oral rape in a Soho bar toilet in 2004 and an anal rape at his Hampstead home in 2009; Brand maintains every encounter was consensual. 3

Mixed · 2Before the ruling, the court heard Brand's pre-prepared statements from four police interviews held between November 2023 and July 2025, in which he said he had "led a very promiscuous life" and had "sexual encounters in countless locations and scenarios", but "never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity". 3 2 Mixed · 2In those statements Brand called the September 2023 Channel 4 documentary and newspaper reports "defamatory and fictitious" and said they led to further encounters being "invented or reimagined". 3 2 Centre · 1On the C3 allegation of oral rape, he said he had "had consensual sex in toilet cubicles at parties but have never forced anyone into a toilet or forced my penis into anyone's mouth". 1

Mixed · 2The prosecution case ended with a few loose ends due on Wednesday morning, after which the defence will begin; Brand could give evidence, and the defence is expected to last two to three weeks, while the trial could run up to six weeks in total. 1 3