Jury retires to consider verdicts in Russell Brand rape and sexual assault trial

The jury in Russell Brand's rape and sexual assault trial has retired to consider its verdicts after a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

• The eight-man, four-woman jury began deliberating after Judge Mr Justice Bennathan said he would only accept a unanimous verdict.
• Brand, 51, denies seven charges — three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault — against six women, with allegations spanning a decade from 1999.
• Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court that six women who did not know each other accused Brand of a similar pattern of behaviour.
• Brand's barrister Ian Winter KC said a 2023 documentary investigation into the allegations had "poisoned the wells" of justice against him.