Judge sentencing Russell Brand shares three the reason why he did not get longer in jail
The comedian was handed a prison term of 10 years and 6 months for his horror crimes against a number of women and the judge has since shared his mitigation
Mr Justice Joel Bennathan during sentencing of Russell Brand(Image: SKY)
Shamed rapist Russell Brand was given three reasons why he didn’t get longer in jail during his sentencing. The comedian was handed a prison term of 10 years and 6 months for his horror crimes against a number of women.
During sentencing, Mr Justice Bennathan revealed the reason for the sentence he imposed on Brand – calling out his “arrogance” in front of a packed court.
He said it should go on the record that women always should “retain the right to say no and demand justice in the criminal courts” from sexual predators like Russell Brand.
Mr Justice Bennathan told the court during sentencing: “Whatever 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.”
The judge did say he recognised the loss to his family, but said it was something he had to take the blame for himself.
He told Brand “imprisonment will deprive your children of the presence of their father, that sad loss to them however is caused by your serious offending.”
His wife appeared emotional as she arrived at court before his sentencing (Image: Getty Images)
The judge said factors in mitigation for Brand included his lack of previous convictions and that “17 years had passed” since his final offence, and how Brand had lived his life subsequently including helping those “wrestling with addictions”.
He said he had removed a year from the sentence after Brand’s character statements were read out.
The 51-year-old former stand-up comic was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of raping a woman and sexually assaulting female TV and radio workers.
He has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for the one count of rape, which he will serve consecutively with the following three sentences. He got nine months for count three – sexually assaulting a woman whose breasts he grabbed at a bar in London as well as 18 months for count five – sexually assaulting a woman at the Choice FM studios in London in either 2004 or 2005, when he grabbed her face and kissed her before touching her breasts and bottom.
He also got eight months for count seven – sexual assault while working on a Channel 4 project in 2009, when he laid his head into the groin area of a woman working with him without her consent.
The court, inside and out, was packed(Image: Jordan Pettitt/Press Association)
These three sentences will all be served concurrently to one another – but consecutively to the rape sentence which means the total sentence is one of 10 years and six months.
It means Brand is likely to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody according to the Sentencing Council.
The council states offenders jailed for four years or more for some serious violent or sexual offences will be released at the two-thirds point.
Once released, he is likely to spend the rest of his sentence on licence and will have to abide by specific rules – such as wearing a tag.
His sentence will not be included in the new early release scheme. Sex offenders – along with murderers – are exempt from the scheme.
The four-week trial heard how Brand preyed on women that he encountered on his way to becoming one of Britain’s best-known comedians, a lauded TV and radio host, and a Hollywood actor who was briefly married to singer Katy Perry.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand were married for 14 months(Image: Getty)
Brand was convicted by the jury of raping a 21-year-old fan in 2009, after meeting her following one of his stand-up shows at the Hammersmith Apollo.
The woman told jurors she was a huge Brand fan and had willingly engaged in a threesome with him backstage despite having a boyfriend at the time.
She agreed to go to Brand’s Hampstead home for sex a few days later, but a consensual encounter turned into rape when the comedian suddenly forced the woman into anal sex.
Another woman told the court how her breasts were groped by Brand in the Nordic bar in Soho, just seconds after she had been introduced to him at a 2004 party. She recalled Brand’s “weird” grin as he carried out the sexual assault.
In 2005, Brand kissed and groped a third woman during a visit to the Capital Radio studios in London, pouncing on her as she walked out of a room.
Brand was also convicted of putting his head into the groin of a female Channel 4 worker, after she had been forced to give him a massage in 2009.
Brand denied the all the charges and claimed to have only ever had consensual sex during a “promiscuous” life, which he insisted had been packed with “idiocy” but never illegal.
