Burnham praises victims who spoke out on Russell Brand’s ‘horrific’ crimes

Andy Burnham has described Russell Brand’s actions as “horrifying” and praised the bravery of the women who had the “courage to speak out” against the rapist comedian.

Brand faces a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women at the height of his fame.

Mr Burnham told Times Radio: “It’s horrifying what Russell Brand has done. And I’d firstly like to praise the bravery of the women, the victims in the case, who’ve come forward and had the courage to speak out.

“But yes, the journalists too, who supported those who had been abused by Russell Brand and worse. So all of them deserve our praise for having that courage to stand forward.”

Earlier, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has said he would not be surprised if “many more” alleged victims of Mr Brand now came forward.

High-profile cases such as his often lead to rise in reporting because they give victims confidence to speak up about attackers, he said.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It does make a difference because people see it is possible, and you will be believed.”

On Brand, he added: “There’s two more cases we’re investigating at the moment. I clearly wouldn’t be surprised if many more came forward.”

Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a high-profile trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The comedian, 51, who denied all charges against him, was acquitted of two rape charges and a further accusation of attempted indecent assault.

A jury of eight men and four women took around nine hours to deliver their verdicts for each of the seven allegations against him.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Bennathan, has told Brand that he faces a “significant custodial term” when he is sentenced on Monday.

The PM is the most senior Labour figure to comment on the case since the jury delivered their verdict.

Before any of the allegations came to light, Mr Burnham was one of a number of politicians, including the foreign secretary Ed Miliband, who praised Brand. In 2014, Mr Burnham said he has used his celebrity status “to help others”, while the then-Labour leader Mr Miliband was interviewed by Brand as he courted his supporters in the run up to the 2015 general election.

Earlier, Sir Mark said some of what he had heard reported from Brand’s trial was “getting very close to victim blaming”.

It was put to Sir Mark on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Brand’s defence lawyer Ian Winter KC had told jurors that “none of the complainants had, in his words, resisted or screamed or even tried to leave”.

“I think what I’ve heard reported heads towards, it’s getting very close to victim blaming, which is something we’ve thought very hard about in policing and make sure we don’t do,” Sir Mark said.

He warned that “people fall into myths” about rape victims will behave.

“The evidence is really clear,”he said. “Some people will fight. Some people will freeze. Some people will tell people straight away. Some people bottle it up for years. There isn’t one way of reacting.£

He added that “it shouldn’t be possible for inaccurate statements to be made to a jury to suggest that because a rape victim didn’t behave in one way, that somehow that undermines their case, when the evidence is very clear - we’re all (of) very different sort of psychological and personal make-up, and in the most extraordinary horrific moments, of course, people react very differently”.