Russell Brand has been jailed for 10 years and six months after being convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others. The 51-year-old was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday, 9 November, following a four-week trial.

A jury convicted Brand on Thursday, 5 November, of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against four women, for offences committed between 2004 and 2009, when he was rising to fame as a comedian and broadcaster. He was acquitted of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.

Judge calls Brand a sexual predator

Mr Justice Joel Bennathan handed Brand nine years for the rape, with further terms of 18 months, nine months and eight months for the three sexual assaults running concurrently with each other but consecutively to the rape sentence, giving a total of 10 years and six months. The judge said Brand had "become a sexual predator" as he rose to fame and showed "staggering arrogance", telling the court that women "retain the right to say no".

Brand will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being released on licence, and his name will be on the sex offenders' register for life. He had spent the previous four nights at HMP Wandsworth after the verdict, and denied all the charges throughout.

Prosecutors thank the four women

The Crown Prosecution Service said the conviction and sentence showed that fame, status and the passage of time did not change the fundamental issue of consent. Senior Crown prosecutor David Roberts thanked the four women at the heart of the case, saying each had carried what happened for almost two decades, and that the sentence could not undo the harm but he hoped it brought them some measure of justice.

The Metropolitan Police said its investigation, Operation Actinolite, had involved speaking to more than 100 witnesses and reviewing more than 1,400 documents, and confirmed it is investigating two further allegations of rape against Brand. Read the CNN report on the sentencing and the Crown Prosecution Service statement.