What is Russell Brand accused of? The allegations facing comedian as London trial gets under way

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The prosecution case against Russell Brand opened on Wednesday in his high-profile rape and sexual assault trial.

The 51-year-old is accused of groping women and forcing them into sexual acts in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999 to 2009.

Brand denies three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assaults, and one allegation of indecent assault, made by six women.

The actor and comedian was described as a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator who raped and groped women to satisfy his sexual appetite at the opening of the trial.

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He was “obsessed” with sex and treated women as a “means to an end”, Southwark Crown Court was told, and was “child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met”, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said.

Brand, when questioned by police, gave prepared statements and insisted that all sexual contact with women had been consensual, the court was told.

The trial is expected to gain huge media attention through to its conclusion.

Brand is being supported at court by his wife, Laura Gallacher.

Russell Brand arrives with wife Laura Gallacher at Southwark Crown Court for the start of his trial on WednesdayAFP/GettyWhat charges does Russell Brand face?Opening the case against him Ms Karmy-Jones KC said Brand used humour and his “charm” in the constant pursuit of sex.

Ms Karmy-Jones said the claims facing Brand happened as “his public profile was taking off as he was progressing from doing gigs as a stand-up comedian at pubs and clubs to a TV presenter, an actor, and Hollywood movie star”.

She told jurors: “Offending took place in a number of locations: a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle in a bar and at his home address.

“Some of the women involved protested and said no, others had no opportunity to react to his advances, but it mattered not to the defendant.

“Regardless of who they were and what they said or did, the defendant was not deterred.

“His desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious.

“He could be nice when he wanted to be – funny, undoubtedly; charming, likeable even – when he wanted something in return. But then demanding, entitled, a flirt with a huge sexual appetite – child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met.

“He was ruthless, he was calculated, and he was manipulative, and the prosecution say – a sexual predator.”

A court artist sketch of Russell Brand appearing during jury selection at Southwark Crown CourtPA Wire‘Rape of woman in hotel room during Labour Party conference’Brand is accused of raping a woman he had met after she watched him perform a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told jurors the woman initially thought Brand was gay, and invited him to her hotel room to continue their conversation.

She says he emerged topless from the toilet and “was prancing around the room, a bit like an ostrich, doing silly walks like Basil Fawlty”.

The prosecutor said: “She was taken aback, she was shocked and she didn’t really know what to do – and in her words she froze a bit.

“She asked him why he had taken his clothes off, and he said something along the lines of ‘It’s OK, it’s just how I am, don’t worry…. I’m mostly naked at home’.”

The woman said she found Brand “polite, courteous and complimentary about her” when they had first met after the show, describing him as having a “gentlemanly way”.

“She assumed he was gay, he gave no indication of being attracted to her,” said Ms Karmy-Jones, who told the jury Brand would try to make women laugh and show interest in their causes in his pursuit of sex.

“Above all, she was excited by the fact that she could have such an intelligent conversation with a man, a man who was displaying an interest in what she had to say.”

Later in the hotel room, the woman says she took photographs of a topless Brand at his request, before he “pushed her onto the bed”.

“She remembers the weight of him on top of her, she couldn’t move, and was finding it hard to breathe, but recalls trying not to let him kiss her, and saying ‘no’.”

The prosecutor said the woman recalled Brand’s tongue feeling “like a lizard” as he raped her.

Afterwards, she says Brand “behaved as if nothing had happened” and suggested that his mother would like to meet her.

Brand “sniggered” after kissing and groping a woman while members of his entourage watched on and did nothing to help her, the court was told.

A woman who encountered Brand at a radio station in the mid-2000s said she recognised him from his work on Channel 4’s Big Brother spin-off shows.

She says Brand “grabbed her by the face with both hands” before he “pushed her up against a wall, where he kissed her sloppily and aggressively”, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court.

“She remembers it being very wet. During this assault he also grabbed her body, at her breasts, sides and buttocks aggressively.

“She tried to push him off, but he was too strong and he continued to kiss her on her face, and down her neck and onto her chest area, grabbing her bum, moving his mouth towards her cleavage, grabbing her breast so hard that it was painful.

The woman said she looked to members of Brand’s entourage, “hoping they would intervene”, but she claims they took no action.

“She finally managed to push him away, saying words to him to the effect of ‘f*** off’”, added Ms Karmy-Jones.

“Mr Brand stumbled backwards at that final push and just sniggered – like it was a joke.”

“Perhaps he found their protestations amusing, funny?”, suggested Ms Karmy-Jones, of the radio station incident.

“The other men who were with him also joined in the laughter.”

She said the woman was left feeling “dirty and disgusting”, and “in complete disbelief that not one of the people with Mr Brand had tried to help her or to stop it”.

Russell Brand arriving at Southwark Crown Court, London (Ben Whitley/PA)PA Wire‘Oral rape of woman in toilets of Soho bar’Another alleged victim said Brand “lunged” at her and grabbed her breasts when they were talking about Big Brother in a Soho bar in July 2004.

“She was shocked and remembers that he had a ‘big, weird grin’ on his face as he did so”, said Ms Karmy-Jones.

“Mr Brand then grabbed her arm and held her quite strongly and pulled her into the lavatory, the toilets, which were close to the bar, just behind and to the side of where Mr Brand was standing.”

The woman says Brand orally raped her in the toilet, despite her saying “I don’t want to do this”.

“He just said ‘Oh come on don’t be a spoil sport, you want to’ or something along those lines”, said the prosecutor.

The woman said she “froze and didn’t know what to do” during the incident, and when released by Brand she “started banging on the door”.

“Her hands were shaking and she couldn’t get the lock open, and she remembers a man’s voice on the other side of the door saying ‘are you OK?’.

A woman who says she was raped by Brand claims the comedian apologised for treating her “like an animal”, the court was told.

Brand allegedly had sex with the woman without consent after meeting her when she was in the audience at a Hammersmith Apollo show in 2009.

The court heard she had a threesome with Brand backstage, then had consensual sex with the star at his home in Hampstead, north London.

But she says Brand then raped her at his home, looked “horrified” afterwards, and then allegedly forced her to “clean up the mess”.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said Brand texted the woman the following year after seeing each other in a chance encounter in Scotland.

She said she messaged Brand: “Why are you even messaging me?”, and he replied: “Because you’re dirty, and I wanna push you further.”

The court heard she says she replied: “I think you pushed me far enough – you treated me like an animal”, and she says Brand replied: “I’m sorry.”

The court heard Brand had concluded his 2009 show at the Hammersmith Apollo by telling the audience: “If you see me out in the foyer and you think ‘I really fancy him and would like to have sex with him, but I can’t because it is Russell Brand….’ you probably can have sex with me.

In the bar afterwards, the woman said she bumped into Brand and kissed him, despite having a boyfriend at the time.

It is said a member of Brand’s security pointed at the woman and invited her for drinks backstage, and the “star struck” woman then agreed to a threesome with him and another woman.

She refused to have full sex with Brand on that occasion, and Ms Karmy-Jones said Brand asked for her phone number and later invited her to his home.

She claims Brand forced her to shower while he watched, and alleges she was raped after they had consensual sex.

The court heard she later struggled with an alcohol addiction, and “spent months and years blaming herself for what had happened”.

A woman who previously worked at MTV with Brand claims he once tried to drag her into a toilet cubicle, the court heard.

The prosecutor said she had complimented his “I Am Spartacus” t-shirt in the moments before the alleged incident in 2001.