Jury retires to consider verdicts in Russell Brand trial

The jury trying the case of Russell Brand over alleged rape and sexual assault has retired to consider its verdicts.Brand faces allegations that he attacked women in a hotel room, at his luxury London home, in their workplaces, and in a Soho bar toilet, a trial at Southwark Crown Court was told.The 51-year-old denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one allegation of attempted indecent assault.On Tuesday afternoon, the jury – consisting of eight men and four women – was sent out to consider its verdicts.Brand denies all charges at Southwark Crown Court (Yui Mok/PA)PA WireMr Justice Bennathan said: “I can only accept a verdict from all 12 of you that is a unanimous verdict.”The jury were asked to pick up their personal belongings and paperwork before leaving the court to begin deliberations.During the trial’s opening, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC described the defendant as a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator who raped and groped women to satisfy his sexual appetite.She alleged he was was “obsessed” with sex and treated women as a “means to an end”, and was “child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met”.Brand is accused of raping a woman in a hotel room after she attended the 1999 Labour Party Conference and trying to indecently assault an MTV worker by pulling her into a toilet in 2001.Brand faces seven charges relating to six women (Ben Whitley/PA)PA WireHe is accused of forcing himself on another MTV worker in a Soho bar toilet during a party in 2004, kissing and groping a radio worker in 2005 in a corridor, and raping a 21-year-old fan he met after a stand-up comedy set at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009.Brand is also alleged to have thrust his head into a female Channel 4 worker’s lap in 2009 when she had been forced to give him a massage.In her closing speech, Ms Karmy-Jones KC said Brand liked to exercise “control” over the women, and felt “disdain” towards them as he pursued his goal of sleeping with 5,000 women.Read MoreShe said women were “disposable” and a “means to an end” to the television personality.During his evidence, Brand said consent during sex is “fundamental” and suggested to him it is “more important that the sex itself”.Brand told the court that consent during sex is ‘fundamental’ (Jordan Pettitt/PA)PA WireHe denied having a “goal” to sleep with 5,000 women and while he admitted he was “obsessed” with sex in his younger years, he denied the extent of the impact on his life.When the individual claims were put to him, and he was asked if he had raped and sexually assaulted the women, Brand repeatedly said the word “no”.In his closing speech, Ian Winter KC urged the jury to separate Brand’s sexual behaviour and treatment of women from the question of whether he committed crimes.He said it is “not criminal to treat women unkindly before, during or after sex”, adding that if there is consent then “it is lawful”.The barrister said the complainants’ allegations came “very many years” later, adding that they “only did so once the well of justice had been corrupted and contaminated”.He said the women came forward for “reasons connected to the TV programme”, relating to a Channel 4 Dispatches broadcast, and “not for reasons personable to themselves”.Mr Winter said the women were “not random, not independent”, adding that they had each been “thoroughly contaminated” by the documentary.