Jury retires to decide Russell Brand rape verdicts, comedian denies attacks on six women between 1999 and 2009, anti-institution broadcaster now rests on twelve strangers agreeing unanimously

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The jury in the rape trial of Russell Brand has retired to consider its verdicts at Southwark Crown Court. The 51-year-old comedian denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one allegation of attempted indecent assault, relating to six women and to alleged incidents spanning a decade, from 1999 to 2009.

The eight men and four women were sent out on Tuesday afternoon after Mr Justice Bennathan told them he could accept only a unanimous verdict from all twelve. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC described Brand in her closing speech as a "ruthless, calculated and manipulative" predator who treated women as disposable and pursued a goal of sleeping with 5,000 women. The alleged attacks include the rape of a woman in a hotel room after she attended the 1999 Labour Party Conference, the attempted assault of an MTV worker pulled into a toilet in 2001, and the rape of a 21-year-old fan he met after a stand-up set at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009.

In his closing speech, defence barrister Ian Winter KC urged the jury to separate Brand's sexual behaviour from the question of whether he committed crimes, arguing it is "not criminal to treat women unkindly before, during or after sex" and that where there is consent, "it is lawful". He said the complainants came forward only after a Channel 4 Dispatches broadcast, "once the well of justice had been corrupted and contaminated", and that the women were "not random, not independent".

Brand, who spent years converting distrust of institutions into a subscription audience of millions before the allegations surfaced, gave evidence that consent during sex is "fundamental" and "more important than the sex itself". He admitted he was obsessed with sex in his younger years but denied a 5,000-woman goal, and when each claim was put to him he answered with a single word: no. The jury picked up their personal belongings and paperwork before filing out to decide which account of the decade the twelve of them can agree on.