Russell Brand Granted Bail After First London Hearing Over Rape, Sexual Assault Charges as Judge Sends Case to Central Criminal Court

Russell Brand has been granted bail after appearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, charged with multiple sexual offenses including rape.

Brand arrived on Friday morning to a scrum of photographers. He wore sunglasses, an open black shirt and slim-fitting trousers and remained quiet as he entered the building.

Inside courtroom No. 1, he confirmed his name and date of birth to Senior District Judge Paul Goldsprin, before the individual charges were read out.

As had been expected given the severity of the allegations, Goldspin referred the case to London’s Central Criminal Court, where he’s next due to appear on May 30. He was granted bail, but was asked to provide both his U.S. and U.K. addresses and warned about the consequences should he not appear. When asked if he understood, he simply replied “Yes.”

The charges, which were brought last month, relate to four separate women and incidents that took place between 1999 and 2005. Among them are the allegations that in 1999 a woman was raped in the Bournemouth area of the U.K., that a woman was indecently assaulted in the Westminster area of London in 2001 and that a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in 2004, also in the Westminster area. Between 2004 and 2005, it’s also alleged that a woman was sexually assaulted in the Westminster area. Brand has previously denied allegations against him and stressed all his relationships were consensual.

At the time the charges were brought, the police said they had begun their investigations in late September having received several allegations in the wake of a major expose undertaken by both Channel 4’s “Dispatches” documentary series and the Sunday Times.

Shortly after the news of the charges broke, Brand — who now lives in the U.S. — addressed the allegations in a social media video.

“When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, I was a fool, was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord, I was a drug addict, sex addict and an imbecile,” he said. “But what I never was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”

The 2023 expose — which included a 90-minute documentary and article in the Sunday Times — saw Brand accused of “rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse.” A rep for the show said that “five women, four of whom asked to remain anonymous, agreed to share their stories of serious sexual allegations in the program.”