Russell Brand facing second criminal inquiry
after harassment allegations
Thames Valley police investigating allegations
reported in past two weeks about behaviour dating back to 2018
Jamie
Grierson
@JamieGrierson
Mon 2 Oct
2023 15.02 BST
Russell
Brand is facing a second criminal investigation in connection to allegations of
harassment and stalking.
The
48-year-old comedian and actor has been accused of rape, assault and emotional
abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for
the BBC and Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films. He denies the
allegations.
On Monday,
it emerged Thames Valley police were investigating claims made by a woman who
contacted the force two weeks ago with “new information” about “harassment and
stalking”. Brand lives in Oxfordshire, within the Thames Valley catchment.
Without
naming Brand, Thames Valley police said in a statement: “Thames Valley police
in the past two weeks received new information in relation to the harassment
and stalking allegations dating back to 2018.
“This
information is being investigated. As such, it would be inappropriate to
comment on an ongoing investigation.”
The woman
reported her allegations to Thames Valley police numerous times between 2018
and 2022 but no further action was taken. Brand had also accused the woman of
harassment against him in 2017, according to the BBC.
Brand has
been approached for comment.
Last week,
the Metropolitan police said it had opened an investigation after receiving a
number of allegations of sexual offences in London and “elsewhere in the
country”.
The
offences were all non-recent, the Met said, adding that officers would be
offering specialist support to all the women who had made allegations.
The
original allegations in the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches,
first published and broadcast on 15 September, include claims Brand assaulted
one of the women when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl, while another woman has
claimed he raped her against a wall in his home in Los Angeles.
The Sunday
Times published texts to her – from a phone number that they said multiple
sources had verified as belonging to Brand – which said: “I’m sorry. That was
crazy and selfish.”
A third
woman says she was assaulted in the same house the following year after having
worked with Brand on a project.
Before the
first allegations were published, Brand posted a video online denying “very
serious criminal allegations” about his personal life, saying he has been
“promiscuous” but that all of his relationships had been “consensual”.
Brand later
thanked his supporters for “questioning” the allegations of rape and sexual
assault made against him.
In a
three-minute video clip, posted on YouTube, Rumble and X, he said the week
since the claims were published had been “extraordinary and distressing”.
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