Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to fresh charges of rape and sexual assault.
The 50-year-old, who is based in Florida, was at Southwark Crown Court this morning to deny the offences, which relate to alleged incidents in 2009.
He is alleged to have raped a woman sometime between February 7 and March 1 and to have sexually assaulted another between August 31 and December 1.
Brand, who flew back from the US for the hearing, spoke only to confirm his name and to enter his not guilty pleas from the dock.
He is due to face trial later this year in relation to the charges.
He arrived at Southwark Crown Court this morning in a black Mercedes-Benz, wearing a white wide-brimmed hat, a tiger-print shirt open to the midriff, pinstripe trousers and a large grey overcoat.
The former comedian, who said he found religion in early 2024, also carried a copy of the Bible with several bookmarks hanging out the top.
The former presenter and actor is already facing one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault, relating to four separate women.
He appeared in court in May last year to plead not guilty to those five charges.
The two new charges on which he pleaded relate to two additional women.
Detectives began investigating Brand in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations, which came after reporting by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
The original incidents are said to have occurred between 1999 and 2005.
Brand already stands accused of raping a woman in a hotel in 1999 after they met that day at a theatrical event following the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.
He is also alleged to have raped a woman working in television whom he met in a Soho bar in 2004, accused of grabbing her breasts before pulling her into a toilet and forcing her to perform a sex act.
Another woman claims she was indecently assaulted by Brand, who grabbed her arm and attempted to drag her into a male lavatory at a television station in 2001.
The presenter was working for Channel 4 on Big Brother’s Big Mouth between 2004 and 2005 when he is said to have carried out the final assault on a radio station worker.
Born-again Christian Brand denied the charges in a video posted online shortly after he was initially charged last year.
He told viewers: ‘When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family… I was a fool, man. I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict, and an imbecile.
‘But what I never was was a rapist. I have never engaged in non-consensual activity.’
A four-week trial is scheduled to begin at Southwark Crown Court this summer in relation to the five original charges.
Brand was married to Katy Perry from October 2010 until July 2012; he is now married to Laura Gallacher – sister of sports presenter Kirsty – with whom he has two children.
This is a breaking story – more to follow.
