Comedian Russell Brand arrives at UK court to face rape and sex assault charges

Brand, once one of Britain's most high-profile broadcasters and former husband of U.S. pop singer Katy Perry, has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations about him were first aired two years ago.

The 49-year-old comedian, wearing sunglasses and a dark shirt unbuttoned to his chest, slowly picked his way through a throng of reporters and cameramen into Westminster Magistrates' Court without speaking.

London police charged Brand on April 4 with rape, oral rape, indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault involving the four women between 1999 and 2005.

After the charges were announced, Brand said that in his younger days, before getting married and having children, he had been a fool and a sex addict but "what I never was, was a rapist".

"I have never engaged in non-consensual activity," he said in a video statement. "I'm now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I'm incredibly grateful for that."

In the 2000s, Brand was a regular on British screens, known for his flamboyant style and appearance. He worked for the BBC and starred in a number of films including "Get Him to the Greek" before marrying Perry in 2010. They divorced 14 months later.

By the early 2020s he had faded from mainstream culture, appearing primarily on his internet channel where he airs his views on U.S. politics and free speech.

In September 2023, the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV's documentary show "Dispatches" reported allegations of sex offences against him, and London police opened an investigation some weeks later.

Brand, who said last year he had become a Christian, rejected those accusations.

"These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous," he said.

(Reporting by Michael HoldenEditing by Gareth Jones)