On a Thursday outside a London court, a verdict that closed one chapter of a long public fall from grace also opened a smaller, sharper question about how the people at the edges of such cases are expected to behave. Russell Brand, once a celebrated and provocative voice, now stands guilty of one rape and three sexual assaults, and awaits a sentence that will mark the formal end of his trial. In the wake of that moment, a reporter and the defence barrister who faced him each told their version of a brief and bitter exchange, and the barrister chose to hold himself up to his regulator's scrutin
Brand's barrister self-reports to regulator after journalist alleges he confronted her outside court
Four women alleged rape, sexual assault, or emotional abuse by Brand, and a woman who was 16 at the time of an alleged offence is among those in a separate investigation.
"I hope you're pleased with yourself" — outside court, after the verdicts
Mark
Why is a barrister reporting himself to a regulator at all?
Mimi
Because of what Rosamund Urwin said on the podcast. She says she introduced herself outside court after the verdicts and he snarled at her and swore. Winter said that given how it was characterised, he had a professional duty to refer it so it could be properly scrutinised.
Luke
Worth being clear: the account of the exchange is Urwin's. Winter's statement doesn't say what he did or didn't say. It only says he has self-reported.
Mark
And she's not certain of every word?
Mimi
She isn't. She said she can't remember her own reply and was relying on reporting of it. The snarl and the line about being pleased with himself are her recollection.
Luke
Right, and we don't know what the Bar Standards Board will do with it, or whether it will investigate at all.
Mark
Where does the earlier journalism fit in?
Mimi
Brand's lawyers argued in October that publicity from the 2023 Dispatches and Times investigation meant no fair trial. The judge didn't stop the case, and none of those four women were complainants at trial.
Luke
That distinction matters. The verdicts were on different complainants, so the investigation and the convictions aren't the same thing.
Mark
What's still ahead?
Mimi
Sentencing on Monday, and two further rape allegations under investigation, which Brand denies.
Der Puls
- A brief, bitter confrontation outside court turned a day of verdicts into a dispute over conduct, with a journalist and a senior barrister telling sharply different stories.
- Defence barrister Ian Winter KC has stepped into scrutiny of his own, self-reporting to the Bar Standards Board and insisting the account of his words is distorted.
- Russell Brand, found guilty of rape and sexual assault, faces sentencing on Monday with the judge already warning of a significant custodial term.
- Two further rape allegations remain under police investigation, one involving a woman who was 16 at the time, while Labour leaders confront their own past embrace of Brand.
On a Thursday outside a London court, a verdict that closed one chapter of a long public fall from grace also opened a smaller, sharper question about how the people at the edges of such cases are expected to behave. Russell Brand, once a celebrated and provocative voice, now stands guilty of one rape and three sexual assaults, and awaits a sentence that will mark the formal end of his trial. In the wake of that moment, a reporter and the defence barrister who faced him each told their version of a brief and bitter exchange, and the barrister chose to hold himself up to his regulator's scrutiny. The case still has unfinished threads, and the reckoning around it reaches beyond the courtroom into the politics of the people who once championed him.
Outside court, moments after the verdicts against Russell Brand were read, Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin approached the comedian's defence barrister, Ian Winter KC. Urwin had worked on the newspaper's 2023 investigation into Brand, and she recounts on a podcast that the exchange went badly. In her telling, Winter snarled and told her he hoped she was pleased with herself, and when she suggested justice had been done, he replied that it had not, using a profanity to place the blame on her.
Winter has given his own account. He says that, after seeing how the day had been described in the press, he felt his professional duty required him to report himself to the Bar Standards Board so the matter could be properly examined. He says he has made that report.
Brand was found guilty of one rape and three sexual assaults after a four-week trial, having denied everything. He is in custody until sentencing on Monday, and the judge has signalled that a substantial prison term is expected. The case has not ended there: Brand faces two further rape allegations from two women, and one of them was 16 at the time and had appeared in a Channel 4 documentary. He has denied those claims too.
The wider story reaches into politics as well. Labour's Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who once publicly backed Brand during an earlier controversy, said people cannot always know the full truth about those in public life, and that he had no idea of the extent of Brand's conduct. With sentencing, the Bar Standards Board review and the open investigations still ahead, the story is far from settled.
Outside court, after the verdicts against Russell Brand had been read, Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin walked up to the comedian's defence barrister, Ian Winter KC, and introduced herself. Urwin had been part of the newspaper's 2023 investigation into Brand. By her account, which she gave on a Times and Sunday Times podcast on Thursday, the exchange did not go well.
She said Winter responded with a snarl and told her: "I hope you're pleased with yourself." Urwin said she cannot actually remember her own reply, but has read in reporting that she said she was pleased justice had been done. According to her, Winter answered that it had not been, and used a profanity to suggest she was to blame.
On Friday, Winter said he had reported himself to the Bar Standards Board, the body that regulates barristers in England and Wales in the public interest. He said that, having seen how matters had been characterised in the day's press, he considered his professional duty required him to self-report the allegations so they could be subject to proper scrutiny. He said he had made such a report.
The verdicts that preceded the encounter came on Thursday. After a four-week trial, Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He had denied the allegations. He is being held in custody ahead of sentencing on Monday, and the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told him after the jury returned to expect a significant custodial term.
The journalism at the centre of Urwin's account dates to September 2023, when Channel 4 Dispatches and the Times and Sunday Times jointly published an investigation in which four women variously accused Brand of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse. Brand denied those claims. None of the women in that investigation were the complainants in the criminal trial.
The publicity from that investigation was itself an issue in court. At a pre-trial hearing in October, Brand's lawyers argued he could not receive a fair trial because of the coverage, and sought to have the case thrown out. Prosecutors opposed the application, and it failed.
The case is not finished. Brand is being investigated over two further rape allegations from two other women. Court documents from a hearing at Southwark Crown Court before the trial suggest one of them was 16 at the time of the alleged offence and appeared in a Channel 4 documentary. Brand has denied those allegations.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday that he would not be surprised if more people came forward. He praised the bravery of the women who went to police and gave evidence, and said officers would do everything they can to bring to justice powerful people responsible for what may be the worst moment in a victim's life.
The verdict also drew questions for Labour. Prime Minister Andy Burnham was asked about the party's past association with Brand, whom some figures courted more than a decade ago, when he had a following for left-wing political commentary. Ed Miliband was interviewed by Brand shortly before the 2015 election. In 2014, Burnham publicly backed Brand during a row over claims about his housing arrangements, calling it depressing to see a media mission to discredit someone who stops playing their game, and urging him to keep going.
On Friday, Burnham said people do not always know everything about those in public life. He called Brand's crimes horrific, said he had rightly been held to account, and said he had had no idea of the full extent of what Brand was doing. Next come Monday's sentencing and the Bar Standards Board's handling of Winter's self-report, with the two further investigations still open.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
I consider my professional duty requires me to self-report those allegations to the Bar Standards Board, so the matter can be subject to proper scrutiny.— Ian Winter KC
I had no idea of the full extent of what he was doing.— Prime Minister Andy Burnham
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