Russell Brand accused of further violence towards women as he begins jail term for rape and sexual assault

Russell Brand has been accused of further violence towards women as he spent the first night of his ten-and-a-half-year sentence behind bars for rape and sexual assault.

The shamed comedian showed no emotion as he was handed a custodial sentence on Monday afternoon, but told his wife, Laura Gallacher, “we’ll be OK” before he was taken downstairs by dock officers at Southwark Crown Court.

Hours after his sentencing, Jemima Goldsmith – who reportedly dated Brand for around a year in 2014 – shared a post on X in which she claimed she had to call the police on the TV personality to get him removed during a “violent incident”.

She wrote that she has her own experience of his “violence, coercive control and abuse”, and has neither seen nor spoken to Brand since that period.

Brand, 51, was convicted on Thursday for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to international fame.

He spent four nights in a cell before the sentencing hearing on Monday, during which his barrister Ian Winter KC argued his crimes were the consequence of the level of fame he was acquiring.

Mr Winter pointed out that the final offence “happened very shortly after” Brand has met his former wife, singer Katy Perry.

One of Brand’s victims called him “a sexual predator who has no remorse for how his behaviour has impacted my life”.

She told court that his fame had left her afraid to speak out for years, adding: “His fame, wealth and influence created a power imbalance which made me feel powerless.”

Another had said she feared the sexual assault will “haunt me every day” and the process of reporting the incident “felt like a marathon I had not trained for”.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the bravery of the women who came forward to report the disgraced television personality will bring about wider changes to the legal system.

Speaking at a hospital in Hertfordshire as Brand’s sentencing hearing was under way, Burnham said he would be “relentless in making whatever improvements we can” to provide more support for victims, including making sure there are rape and serious sexual offence teams in every police force.

It is understood culture secretary Lisa Nandy will summon media and entertainment bosses in the coming days to tell them the case must be a “line in the sand”, with a Government source telling The Times Nandy believes “responsibility has to lie with the people at the top”.

Nandy on Sunday warned there has not been enough change in media organisations to stop celebrities like Brand from preying on women.

Last week, Burnham told Times Radio he would “look closely” at what Sir Mark Rowley said after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner backed calls to change legislation to tackle “rape myths”.

Sir Mark had earlier told the BBC that what he heard reported from Brand’s trial came very close to “victim blaming”.

Victims commissioner Claire Waxman has called for a new legal duty on judges to direct juries, if rape myths have been ventured during a trial.

Mr Winter put forward arguments that the comedian could not be a rapist as his accusers had not “resisted or screamed or even tried to leave”.

The lawyer has since reported himself to his professional regulator after being accused of a tirade at a female journalist shortly after his client had been found guilty of rape.

In the House of Lords on Monday, justice minister Lord Lemos said the Government “know we need to do better on ensuring victims of rape and sexual abuse feel safe to seek justice”.

However, he did not commit to changing the law around rape trials.

The Government frontbencher had earlier said that judges “already can and do give directions concerning rape myths based on the specifics of each case”.

Labour former justice minister Baroness Levitt has tabled an amendment to the Courts And Tribunals Bill to write Ms Waxman’s proposed legal duty in to law.

Her amendment would require judges in trials for sexual offences and domestic abuse offences to direct juries on myths and stereotypes that may affect their assessment of the evidence.

Former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland told BBC Newsnight on Monday that a change in the law could “complicate the situation”.

“There’s always a case to look carefully at the way we do these things but the academic evidence is very mixed about so called rape myths and I believe that jurors change in terms of generational attitudes,” he told the programme.

“But I do think that in that interim it is the job of barristers and judges who should be trained properly in these cases to get it right and not start asking questions that go way beyond their duty to defend their clients.”

Sentencing Brand, Mr Justice Bennathan slammed the comedian’s “staggering arrogance” and said he had “become a sexual predator” during his rise to fame.

The judge said Brand harboured a “casual arrogant disregard to any woman’s right to say no to you”, while his fame meant he believed “you could act when you liked and how you liked”.

Brand is expected to serve two-thirds of his prison sentence before being released on licence.

He will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.