Katherine Ryan Feels 'Grief and Relief' as Russell Brand Is Convicted of Rape and Sexual Assault

On the latest episode of her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, comedian Katherine Ryan described what she felt after the jury returned its verdicts against Russell Brand: "grief and relief." The Canadian stand-up and TV star said many women were "speaking privately and quietly" in the wake of Thursday's decision, each carrying what she called a very nuanced mix of emotions.

On Thursday, a jury found Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and one allegation of attempted indecent assault. Brand is 51. The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told him after the verdicts to expect "a significant custodial term", and sentencing is set for Monday.

Ryan's comments carry some history. In a BBC documentary interview with Louis Theroux, she had spoken of a "predator" in the entertainment industry. In 2022 she said she could not name the man because it was a "litigious minefield", though she said she had appeared on a TV programme with him and told him to his face that he was a predator. It was widely rumoured she meant her time alongside Brand on Comedy Central's Roast Battle in 2018. She has not confirmed that, and she did not name the show.

On the podcast she said the verdict left her "dysregulated again" and caught off-guard, and in awe of the survivors, who had nothing to gain. They came forward, she said, despite Brand's fame, power, money and a legion of fans ready to attack them. She said she would never be someone who dances on graves; some justice had been done, with relief and grief side by side. She added that she thinks about those who have been hurt and will keep carrying it, whatever justice is done. She also voiced worry about what comes next, saying Brand has long cultivated the idea that the establishment invented the claims, and has cast himself as a martyr to a growing audience who see the survivors as the villains.

On Friday, former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey asked on BBC Radio 5 Live how Brand had "got away with it so long". Why, she asked, did nobody intervene, and why did senior executives who worked with him not call time? She suggested people were partly mesmerised, that he seemed "cool" for a while, had charisma, and brought in the young audience broadcasters crave. As others have said, she noted, he hid in plain sight.

Adventurer Bear Grylls, who was a guest at Brand's private baptism in the River Thames in 2024, wrote on X that Brand's faith had seemed genuine to him at the time. He said he attended as part of his faith's calling to love and serve anyone, and that judgement is for the courts and God. But he said it was right that justice had been served, and that he could not imagine how hard this had been for the victims, whom he called the heroes of the day.

The legal story is not finished. Police say Brand is being investigated over further rape allegations made by two women, and the Metropolitan Police said he had previously been interviewed under caution about them. Legal documents from a pre-trial hearing at Southwark Crown Court suggest one of the women was 16 at the time and featured in a Channel 4 documentary. In September 2023, a joint Channel 4 Dispatches, Times and Sunday Times investigation had reported accusations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse from four women. Brand denied them, and none of those women were complainants at this trial.

At the October hearing, Brand's lawyers unsuccessfully argued he could not get a fair trial because of publicity after the programme. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said that of the four women in the documentary, two concerned events outside the jurisdiction, one disclosed no offence, and the other was being investigated; that woman had some interaction with Brand in 2018 but did not report it until 2024. Prosecutors called it "plainly incorrect" to claim police had decided not to investigate.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he "wouldn't be surprised" if more people came forward, and said some of what he heard reported from the trial came very close to "victim blaming". Attention now turns to Monday's sentencing and to the further investigations.