FILE - Russell Brand speaks at the opening of The Trew Era Cafe, a social enterprise community project on the New Era estate in east London, Thursday, 26 March, 2015. A second British police force is looking into sexual offenses allegedly committed by actor and comedian Russell Brand, British media reported Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, file)
LONDON (AP) – A second British police force is looking into sexual offenses allegedly committed by actor and comedian Russell Brand, British media reported Monday.
Thames Valley Police is taking a fresh look at harassment and stalking allegations previously made by a woman against Brand between 2018 and 2022, the BBC and PA news agency said.
The police force declined to name Brand – as is usual in the U.K. for people who have not been charged – but issued a statement when asked about the news reports.
“Thames Valley Police in the past two weeks, received new information in relation to harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018,” it said. “This information is being investigated; as such it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said last week it was examining “a number of allegations of sexual offenses” relating to Brand following a television documentary and newspaper investigations.
Brand, 48, denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.
Brand was a major U.K. star in the early 2000s, hosting shows on radio and television and appearing in several Hollywood movies. He was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012.
Brand has largely disappeared from mainstream media but has built up a large following online with videos mixing wellness and conspiracy theories. YouTube has said it will stop Brand from making money from the streaming site, where he has 6.6 million subscribers, due to the “serious allegations” against him.
