During the summer of 2012, Russell Brand was at the height of his fame. The comedian and actor had recently starred alongside Tom Cruise in Rock Of Ages and was living in Los Angeles in the wake of his divorce from pop star Katy Perry, when it is alleged he pushed a woman against a wall and raped her without using a condom.
This is just one of many disturbing charges that have emerged from The Sunday Times and Dispatches joint investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations levied against Brand.
The woman, whose identity has been protected and is referred to only as Nadia, reportedly told only a couple of friends and the team at the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Centre’s Rape Treatment Centre, which treated her in the aftermath of her assault, about what happened to her.
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According to the joint investigation, the notes from the RTC state: ‘The victim’s primary concern… Was protecting her reputation as she was worried that, if her assailant’s name is somehow released, then her name will be dragged through the dirt.’ Nadia is said to have declined to make a police report against Brand but she went on to receive therapy sessions at the centre for five months. The investigation relates how the women said to have been assaulted by Brand were made to feel afraid of filing police reports; afraid of what might happen to them if they did. But that doesn’t make Russell Brand the common denominator between these cases – instead the broken justice system that fails victims across the UK is.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 22% of all sexual offences and 31% of rapes recorded in 2022 were crimes that had taken place more than a year earlier. In the same year, the average time between a rape offence being reported in London and the end of the criminal justice process was 1,020 days – which equates to just over two and a half years – up by more than a quarter from the previous year.
The small number of rape and sexual assault cases that do manage to progress to trial often only serve to re-traumatise victims. While studying politics at the University of Glasgow, Ellie Wilson was raped by her then-boyfriend Daniel McFarlane. Despite there being verbal and written confirmation from McFarlane of the rape taking place, it took over three years to secure a conviction against him (he was eventually sentenced to five years in prison in July 2022).
‘My experience at the hands of the justice system was completely horrifying,’ 25-year-old Wilson tells ELLE. ‘It was entirely re-traumatising and I would say actually really violating.’
As part of criminal proceedings against rape and sexual assault perpetrators in the UK, victims are not entitled to independent legal representation as the cases are brought to court by the Crown Prosecution Service. ‘You’re left in the dark. You have nobody to go into detail about the evidence that the defence has or what to expect from the trial,’ Wilson says. ‘You’re told the very basic facts but nothing in depth, while the person who stands accused has an independent lawyer who’s working on their behalf and has fully prepped them with what to expect.’
Wilson met the lawyer who was working on behalf of the prosecution only a couple of days before the trial. All she was told was that if she didn’t understand a question in court during examination, the lawyer could repeat it. A report released earlier this year by the Law Commission strongly urged the government to provide rape complainants with legal advice and representation to enable them to make informed decisions about the way their evidence is given and used.
As part of Wilson’s trial, her phone became a key piece of evidence. Over three years after criminal proceedings against McFarlane began, and one year since his conviction, her phone still hasn’t been returned to her. She was also offered no psychological support, despite losing her period due to stress and having suicidal thoughts during the trial.
In the wake of the Brand investigation, Twitter users have shared similar complaints of the justice system. One user said that she ‘deeply regretted’ reporting her abusive ex-partner. ‘The process lasted four years, during which time I wasn’t allowed to speak about what happened to me even in counselling, the court case was traumatic, it was like I was on trial, the jury weren’t allowed to hear from or about his other victims… It nearly killed me,’ she wrote.
It’s not only the trials themselves that are a cause for concern. Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant Zelda Perkins, who was instrumental in the #MeToo movement, was advised by lawyers not to file a police report against the disgraced producer due to a lack of evidence of the harassment she was accusing him of. ‘That moment of realising that the “safe” people – the lawyers – in that situation were actually far from safe almost broke me more than anything that actually happened to me,’ Perkins says. ‘There was nobody to turn to who could make these powerful men abide by the rules. And a lawyers’ job in this instance was to protect reputations, not victims.’
The recent cases of Wayne Couzens, who used his status as a police officer to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard, and David Carrick, a former Metropolitan Police constable convicted of 85 rapes and serious assaults, have only served to further damage trust in the system. There are currently 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers who are currently suspended or on restricted duties, with the force admitting that some of those facing criminal charges are not expected to go on trial before 2025. When somebody did accuse Brand of inappropriate behaviour, which Hungarian masseuse, Szilvia Berki, did in 2014, she was ordered by a high court judge to stop ‘harassing’ him.
Because of the lack of trust in the system, many victims are more comfortable speaking to journalists than they are reporting crimes to the police, but even the press has an element of complicity. In 2000, Perkins broke the NDA Weinstein made her sign and shared her experience with a journalist. The story was killed and Perkins was later told by the editor in charge that her story wasn’t ‘enough’. Thirteen years later, the same editor called Perkins and told her that other women were now willing to talk about Weinstein’s behaviour so the story could run. Reading between the lines, the message was clear: a woman’s voice is never loud enough to be heard on its own.
Not only is faith in the system itself quaking, but the recent outpouring of support for men in the public eye who have been accused of misconduct and assault, further suggests that the rules don’t always apply to those who stand accused.
‘Since MeToo, a lot has changed and nothing has changed at the same time,’ Perkins concedes. ‘Like all cultural movements, it takes a very long time for change to occur. There is still a huge challenge in women being believed, so in order for the system to improve, women must be empowered to know that their words are powerful enough to have an effect. And more than that – that they will be believed.’
Russell Brand has denied all the allegations against him, through his lawyers to the Dispatches and Sunday Times investigation and in a video posted on his YouTube channel immediately before the allegations were first published.
Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
