LONDON: Comedian Russell Brand was a “sexual predator” who was “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” when targeting women for sex, a British prosecutor told a UK jury on Wednesday at the start of his rape and sexual assault trial.

The one-time left-wing personality, who shot to fame as a television and radio presenter, faces seven sexual offence charges involving six women. He denies all the allegations. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said the alleged offences took place between 1999 and 2009, when Brand’s career was beginning to flourish.

Addressing the jury, she gave graphic details of accusations by women, saying the youngest was 21 at the time of the alleged offences. They came forward to police after seeing media coverage about Brand in 2023 and after he was initially charged in 2025, the court heard.

Brand, now 51, was “not deterred” when some of the women said no, she said, adding his desire for sex was “indiscriminate and voracious”. He used charm and comic talents when he wanted something but would then be “demanding and entitled... childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met,” Karmy-Jones told the jury of eight men and four women.

“He was ruthless, calculated and manipulative, and the prosecution say — a sexual predator,” she added.

Brand, dressed in a dark suit, black-and-white striped shirt and long white tie, arrived at London’s Southwark Crown Court in a black van accompanied by his wife Laura. None of the women will be identified in court.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2026