Jury retires in Russell Brand rape trial after his barrister said acting like a 'crazy idiot' is no crime
Russell Brand leaving Southwark Crown Court in October, as Ryder Cup winner Bernard Gallacher sat beside him in the public gallery throughout Monday's closing speeches.
The jury at Southwark Crown Court has retired to consider its verdicts in the Russell Brand rape trial after three weeks of proceedings. Brand, 51, denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault against six women, covering alleged conduct between 1999 and 2009. His barrister Ian Winter KC closed the defence case by urging jurors not to conflate Brand's admitted sexual behaviour with criminal culpability.
Winter told the jury: 'It is not criminal to be disrespectful or rude or to act like a crazy idiot — if there is consent it is lawful.'
The defence contended that journalists had 'poisoned the well of justice' by encouraging the women to come forward only after Channel 4's 2023 Dispatches documentary and Times reporting.
Brand was accompanied to court by wife Laura and his father-in-law Bernard Gallacher, the Ryder Cup-winning golfer, in a visible show of family support.
