Russell Brand facing second criminal inquiry after harassment allegations
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”.