Russell Brand’s ex ship help assertion as choose urged to not ‘sentence him as monster’
Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs and the woman at the centre of Russell Brand’s 2008 Sachsgate, has given her support to the disgraced star
Georgina Baillie sent a message to the court in support of Brand (Image: Redferns via Getty Images)
The woman at the centre of Russell Brand’s 2008 “Sachsgate” has sent a statement in support of the disgraced star, despite previously calling him a sex addict and “seriously unwell.”
Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, submitted a statement in support of Brand as he judge has been urged not to sentence him “as the monster portrayed outside this courtroom.”
The Sachsgate scandal was during an infamous BBC Radio 2 prank calls with Brand and then-pal Jonathan Ross, which reportedly saw her relationship with her late grandad.
Brand is facing a lengthy prison sentence (Image: Getty)
The pair left lewd voicemails for the Fawlty Towers legend with Brand bragging about sleeping with Georgina, who was 21 at the time.
Brand apologised to her 11 years after the stunt and paid for rehab after she turned to booze and drugs.
His barrister Ian Winter KC has told the court that the Ms Baillie has given a character statement in support of Brand.
Baillie wrote: “I still choose to support him as a person I know him to be.”
Her words in court come just days after the 41-year-old, who had a consensual relationship with Brand, and told the Daily Mail that she was disappointed” with the comedian.
She told the publication that she wants him to “own up and make the amends” after being found guilty. She added: “I now want Russell to right the wrongs. I want those victims to get some help.”
Winter KC said Ms Baillie, who was embroiled in the Sachsgate scandal in 2008, had “as good a reason as anyone” not to back the disgraced star.
Brand during a police interview with the Met(Image: Metropolitan Police/Press Association)
He then urged the judge to take it into consideration, and “not sentence (Brand) as the monster portrayed outside this courtroom”.
After listing Brand’s work in support of addiction charities, he said that “there are a large number of people who had come forward to ask and provide us with statements” but “those people were not prepared in the main to have their names entered into this process, which is completely understandable”.
He added: “But I can tell your lordship that a lot of people have been helped in very, very often life-saving ways by Mr Brand’s care for them and personal time spent helping them.
“And your lordship in that regard will have seen the statement of Ms Georgina Baillie, who was an alcoholic and now has been sober for six years because Mr Brand both persuaded her, then paid for her to go through rehabilitation.”
His wife Laura appeared to be helped to court ahead of Brand’s sentencing (Image: AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
He said that Ms Baillie has put her name to a witness statement to the court and Mr Winter described her has “the granddaughter of the late, I would say great actor Andrew Sachs – she is the person right at the eye of the Sachsgate storm for which Mr Brand was rightly, and he accepted, rightly pilloried for, for what he said was a disgraceful prank on live radio.”
Brand is currently in court today (November 9) for sentencing for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three other women during his showbiz career.
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.
A 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.
Georgina Baillie said ‘I choose to support him as a person I know him to be’(Image: FilmMagic)
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.
