Russell Brand is no rapist and respects a 'no', defence tells court

British comedian Russell Brand is not a psychopath who rapes people and thinks it is normal, and he is respectful when women say no, his barrister has told Southwark Crown Court in London during closing speeches at his trial.

Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, said allegations about the comedian's sexual conduct in 2023 had poisoned the wells of justice.

Brand, 51, is accused of seven offences, including rape and sexual assault, against six women in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999. He denies all the charges.

In his closing speech on Monday, Winter questioned why, out of the many women Brand had sex with during that period, only three say they did not consent.

He said Brand had an immense amount of sex and none of it was unlawful, and that living a highly promiscuous life is entirely lawful, however morally distasteful anyone may find it.

Winter said the 2023 reporting of sexual misconduct allegations in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary and in Times and Sunday Times stories had prompted the women to come forward with accusations afterwards, and he described monstrous delays in the women coming forward to police.

He began his closing speech by reciting an 1864 quote from the theologian and philosopher John Henry Newman about poisoning the wells.

In her closing speech on Friday, the prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones KC, denied that the 2023 reporting had had such a hold on the minds of six perfectly rational women as to make them invent or reimagine their encounters with the comedian.