Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleRussell Brand’s defence barrister has told jurors at Southwark Crown Court that journalists prompted the criminal complaints against his client, according to BBC Entertainment. Ian Winter KC made the argument in his closing speech on Monday, as the trial continues.
Brand faces seven counts: three of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault. He denies all the allegations.
Claims about the media coverage
Winter said a Channel 4 documentary and articles in the Times and Sunday Times, all published in 2023, led people to bring criminal allegations who had not previously considered doing so, often many years after the events. He argued that journalists had “poisoned the well of justice”.
He reminded jurors that the judge had directed them to treat the Dispatches programme as one-sided and produced in a dramatic manner. He said it was broadcast without any journalist speaking to Brand, other than to protect themselves against defamation risk and secure a right of reply after it was made.
Winter told the jury the six complainants were not random and had been thoroughly contaminated by the programme. He also said Brand was innocent of the allegations made in it.
Arguments on consent and conduct
Winter said that living a highly promiscuous life is lawful. He asked jurors whether they could be sure that, among the many women who had sex with Brand voluntarily, he raped only three.
He described it as an extremely curious feature of the case that Brand obviously genuinely believed the encounters were consensual, as that would explain why his behaviour seemed normal. Winter said there was no evidence Brand was a psychopath who rapes people and thinks it is normal.
On one allegation from 1999, he said a person would have to be a psychopath to ask someone whether they were enjoying it while raping them. He pointed to the fact that Brand left the woman his real email address, and said rapists do not do that, leave photographs or kiss their victims goodbye.
Winter told jurors that Brand had an immense amount of sex but that none of it was unlawful. Whether it was distasteful or immoral, he said, was irrelevant to their decision. He added that it is not criminal to treat women unkindly, to be rude or disrespectful, or to behave like a crazy idiot.
Impact on Brand and his family
Jurors were reminded of Brand’s evidence about the effect of the programme on him. Winter cited one example: Great Ormond Street Hospital did not let Brand stay at the bedside of his baby son after life-saving open heart surgery. Brand earlier told the court this was because of material published in the public eye. Winter said it showed how far public opinion had been corrupted.
Winter also referred to evidence from Brand’s wife, Laura. He said she fell in love with Brand knowing what he had done, married him and had three children with him. He argued she would not have done so had he been guilty as charged.
Brand arrived at court on Monday with his wife and her father, former professional golfer Bernard Gallacher. The trial continues, and Brand is presumed innocent unless and until a jury finds otherwise.
Source: BBC Entertainment
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