Russell Brand accuser ‘groomed and assaulted’: ‘I was 16 … He made me tell people I was his ‘niece’

The woman, who is using the pseudonym Alice, said she was coached on what to say during a three-month relationship with the star, The Sun reports.

Alice came forward alongside four other women in a bombshell expose that saw Brand accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse in a period between 2006 and 2013.

It comes as London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Monday that it has received a report of an alleged sexual assault following the allegations against Brand. The actor has denied all accusations against him.

That incident was alleged to have taken place in the Soho district of central London in 2003, prior to the incidents that were the subject of the original allegations made on Saturday.

Police have urged any alleged victims to come forward after the claims were aired in a joint investigation by British media outlets The Times and Sunday Times and Channel 4 Television’s Dispatches program.

Alice today told long running BBC Radio 4 program Woman’s Hour: “Russell groomed me and told me to save his number in my phone under a different name so nothing’s flagged when messages are coming up. He coached me on what to say to my parents”.

‘Not a good look’

She claimed there were discussions around whether to call her his niece or goddaughter.

She added: “After a few days it was decided I couldn’t be seen publicly with him. He told me his management had told him not to be seen out and about”.

“They said it wasn’t a good look for him and his career. He’d just made it to where he wants to be and it’s not a good idea.

“There was some kind of discussion – ‘maybe we can say she’s your goddaughter, we can’t say she’s a niece because people know you’re an only child’”.

A 30-year-old Brand allegedly picked Alice up while she was out shopping for clothes as a schoolgirl in 2006, she claimed.

She said he didn’t know her age at the time, but didn’t react when she told him.

Alice added: “When we met initially and he took my number he hadn’t asked me my age so he didn’t know”.

“He said to me he knew I was stalling on agreeing to go on a date with him. He said ‘why don’t you want to go out with me’.

“I said ‘because I’ve got something to tell you’. I said ‘I’m 16’. He replied saying ‘OK so we’re still on for dinner at 7.30?’ He was 30.”

During the relationship, Brand allegedly forced Alice to perform oral sex until she choked when she was just 16.

She claimed she had to punch him in the stomach to make him stop.

Alice also claimed he referred to her as “the child” during a three-month-long abusive relationship.

She alleged BBC chauffeur-driven car once picked her up from school and took her to Brand’s house, she said.

Now Alice wants the government to consider a “tiered” consent system – making it legal only for 16 to 18-year-olds to have sex with each other.

She added: “There was nothing my mum could do to protect me from being in that relationship. She had breakdowns about it. People say just call the police, but then what. I was legally allowed to be there. I think we should start to think about changing the law.”

She blasted Brand’s response to the allegations as “insulting”.

Alice added: “It is laughable that he would even imply that it’s a mainstream media conspiracy. He’s not outside of mainstream media.”

‘Knew it was coming’

She says Brand’s YouTube channel allows him to talk about conspiracy theories and frame the allegations in those terms.

“I think he was building himself an audience for years that would then have great distrust of any publication that came forward with allegations. He knew it was coming for a long time.”

She says that she was not surprised that Brand denied all the allegations and said they were all consensual.

“What he didn’t deny was that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old,” she added.

Brand posted a video to YouTube to “absolutely refute” the claims before they were published last week.

He added that his relationships during a “promiscuous” time in his life were “always consensual”.

The BBC and Channel 4 have launched probes into the allegations.

Another woman claimed Brand raped her against a wall at his home in Los Angeles.

A third woman, who said she worked with Brand, claimed he sexually assaulted her and then threatened to take legal action if she spoke out.

Another woman said he sexually assaulted her and was both emotionally and physically abusive.

Jordan Martin, who previously wrote a book on the alleged abuse she endured in February 2007, said he was emotionally and sexually abusive.

During one incident he made her brush her teeth so hard her gums bled, she claimed.

Police have been urged to launch a probe into the allegations against Brand, which range from 2006 to 2013 – when he was at the height of his fame.

Caroline Nokes, Conservative chairwoman of the UK House of Commons women and equalities committee, said celebrity can “act as a shield” for abusive behaviour.

She told the Today breakfast program on BBC Radio 4: “I would very much hope that complaints will be made both to the Metropolitan Police and indeed in the States, because this merits and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have seen men — and the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes are almost invariably men — not being held to account for their behaviours and their actions.”

A spokesman for UK prime minister Rishi Sunak today called the allegations “very serious and concerning”.

They added: “People should feel able to raise concerns when they have them and know they will be taken seriously. There should never be any space for harassment regardless of where it is found.

“I think the BBC and Channel 4 have said they will investigate and that’s the right step. I won’t prejudge that but they should present results of the findings transparently.”

It comes as Brand’s former agent John Noel told the BBC: “I never had any complaints about him”.

Brand’s father Ron, 80, has blasted the allegations as he defended his son.

He posted on Facebook: “Is this seriously the most important thing happening in the world?”

Ahead of The Times publishing its expose, Brand denied all the allegations against him, slamming them as “aggressive attacks”.

He performed a stand-up show in Wembley, in London, just hours after the allegations emerged.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.