Russell Brand denies all charges as he takes the stand at his rape and sex assault trial

LONDON (AP) — Russell Brand acknowledged in a London court on Wednesday that he had been obsessed with sex as a younger man, but denied multiple charges of rape and sexual assault, saying the claims have had a “devastating” impact on his life.

The British actor-comedian entered Southwark Crown Court alongside his wife, Laura Gallacher, to testify in his own defense, telling reporters that “today is the day for truth and justice.”

Brand, 51, stood in the witness box and took the oath, then gave his full name: Russell Edward Brand. He answered “no” to each charge as his lawyer, Ian Winter, asked whether he was guilty of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.

Brand denied forcing any of the six alleged victims to do anything against their will.

“Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary, and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself,” Brand said.

Brand said the allegations had had a “devastating” impact, with friends and colleagues abandoning him. He said no one with relevant evidence had been willing to testify in court on his behalf.

“My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations,” he said, adding later that dealing with the “traumatic” allegations had come “at the expense of my marriage, my children and health.”

Brand said he even was barred from staying with his baby son in hospital after anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him in a newspaper and a TV documentary in 2023.

“The reason given by Great Ormond Street Hospital when my son was receiving open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was due to the material published,” he said.

Over the past two weeks of the trial, prosecutors set out their case and the jury heard from six women who accuse Brand of sexual misconduct between 1999 and 2009.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors that Brand was “ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative. And, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator.”

Known for risqué stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, Brand rose to prominence in the early 2000s, hosting television programs and his own BBC radio show. He appeared in Hollywood films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek” and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry.

In recent years he has moved away from mainstream media, relocated to Florida and built a large online following with videos mixing wellness, conspiracy theories and discussions of his religious devotion.

The allegations cover a decade when Brand went from rising stand-up comedian to major celebrity in the U.K.

The first victim alleges that Brand raped her in a hotel room during the Labour Party’s annual conference in the seaside town of Bournemouth in 1999. Another woman alleges that in 2001 Brand tried to drag her into the men’s bathroom at the London office of music channel MTV, where she worked.

A third woman alleges that Brand orally raped her in 2004 in the toilet of a London bar, and a fourth says Brand kissed and groped her at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005.

Another complainant says Brand anally raped her at his home after she met him at one of his shows in 2009, while the sixth says the comedian demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin during the recording of an advertisement in 2009.

Prosecutors say the women don't know one another and separately went to police after the TV documentary was broadcast in 2023. The Associated Press doesn’t name victims of alleged sexual violence, and British law protects their identities from the media for life.

Under cross-examination by Karmy-Jones, Brand acknowledged he had dedicated a lot of his earlier life to “beyond reckless philandering."

“As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which I agree with you was wrong,” he said.

He said “yes” when asked if he had been obsessed with sex when he was younger, but “no” when the prosecutor asked: "Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?”

As he completed a day on the stand, Brand was asked again whether he had committed the crimes he is accused of.

“Not guilty is my plea in every single case," he said.

This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Judge Mr Justice Bennathan looking on as Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court, London, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women, on Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Elizabeth Cook/Press Association via AP)

Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

URDA, Spain (AP) — A high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in Spain Wednesday, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the second deadly rail collision this year.

The regional government of Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people were receiving medical treatment at hospitals. Rescue workers searched the wreckage through the day for survivors and bodies.

The collision came just nine months after another deadly crash involving high-speed trains operated by the same two companies in southern Spain in January.

“Today all of Spain is grieving,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said from the crash site, where he announced that his government would declare three days of national mourning.

Sánchez called for increased safety measures to restore confidence in a high-speed rail system that was once a source of national pride.

“It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year,” said Sánchez, who faces a national election on Nov. 29.

Spain’s rail system operator ADIF said the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the central province of Toledo, involving two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading south in the same direction from Madrid to Seville.

A train operated by the state-owned RENFE company struck the rear of another train operated by private company IRYO that was stopped. The collision derailed two carriages on the tail of the IRYO train and the front of the RENFE train.

Samy Paul, a British tourist, described the shock of the impact to The Associated Press after being rescued from the RENFE train.

“Suddenly, everything started falling apart. Bang! We fell down,” he said. “We realized carriage two, carriage one, all gone, all smashed. There was blood all over.”

David Gómez, a construction worker, was working nearby when he heard the crash and ran to help, he told the newspaper El País.

“People were trying to get out through the windows ... We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought until emergency services arrived," he said. “As I was trying to pull a young woman out, there was a piece of a leg.”

Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said that the crash was caused by what he called the “inexplicable” order from a central command center for Spain’s trains after a security system had failed. He said the train engineers were not to blame.

Puente said that at 8:30 a.m. the security system on a stretch of 63 kilometers (39 miles) stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop. But the central command told the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stopped IRYO train at 8:53 a.m.

Puente said that the train should never have been told to start moving again since there was still a “stop signal” active on that line. And if it had, at least it should have been told to go at reduced speed.

Authorities were still studying information to see how fast the train was going, but it could have been at 200 kph (124 mph) for that stretch of the track, Puente said.

“I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts,” Puente said.

The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left carriages shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.

Passenger Ignacio Relaño was traveling on the RENFE train. He told state broadcaster TVE that the train had stopped momentarily on the line before it started again and then crashed into the IRYO.

“We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact,” he said. “The car leaned to one side like it was about to tip over. I hit my nose, everything went flying, luggage, cell phones. Everything shook.”

Authorities said 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers in the IRYO train.

Ambulances and medical helicopters made trips to and from the site, while unscathed survivors were put on buses. A military emergency brigade was deployed to help.

Spain’s King Felipe VI also visited the crash site.

“We share in the grief of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and we send our heartfelt support to the injured and all those affected,” Spain's royals said in a statement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “My heart goes out to the victims’ families and loved ones. Today, Europe mourns with you.”

Spain's soccer federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey games scheduled on Wednesday.

The wreckage of Wednesday’s crash reminded many of the aftermath of another train collision in January, when 46 people died in southern Spain when an IRYO train jumped the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train. That sent the first two cars of the impacted train plummeting down a four-meter (13-foot) slope.

That crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people.

Before this year, there had been no fatal crash on Spain’s dedicated high-speed lines since the network opened in 1992.

Over recent decades, Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail — which the country’s railway union defines as rails for trains going 250 kph (155 mph) and over — turning it into a world leader.

Spain has laid some 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) of such tracks over more than three decades for its 49 million residents. Only China, with 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people, has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways.

Only recently did Spain open its rail network to private companies to compete against RENFE. The Italian-owned IRYO started operating in Spain in 2022.

A spokesperson for Spain’s train workers’ union, Joan Rodríguez, said increased traffic brought by privatization has put extra strain on rail infrastructure.

“We are not convinced that the liberalization of the high-speed passenger rail service was matched by the necessary upkeep of the lines,” Rodríguez told TVE on Wednesday. “I am not saying it was a determining factor (in the crashes), but yes, the increase in use of the network is a factor to keep in mind.”

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Teresa Medrano in Madrid and Iain Sullivan in Urda contributed.

Emergency services attend to the victims at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A passenger rescued from one of the trains involved in a collision arrives in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

Emergency services attend to the victims at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP)

The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)

The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)