Russell Brand applied to change ownership of £5m family home six weeks before rape conviction

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Is Russell Brand moving his fortune out of his victims' reach? dailymail.com

Russell Brand was convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others (PA Wire) PA Wire

Nandy said women had approached her personally from organisations including the BBC ‘to allege that things have happened to them’ (PA) independent.co.uk

Brand in the dock at Southwark Crown Court (PA) independent.co.uk

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Russell Brand applied to change the ownership of his £5 million family home six weeks before a jury convicted him of rape, the Daily Mail reports. The 51-year-old was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of raping one woman, described as one of his fans, and sexually assaulting three others; the offences were committed at the height of his fame. Mr Justice Bennathan told him he faces a "significant custodial term" at sentencing on Monday.

The verdict settles the criminal question and leaves the civil one open. The four women now hold claims against a defendant with decades of entertainment income and, if the Mail's reporting holds, a family home whose ownership he moved to rearrange before the jury returned. Transfers arranged to put assets beyond the reach of creditors can be set aside in court — but only through litigation the claimants must fund, against lawyers a solvent defendant can still retain. Unwinding one filing will take years.

The institutional response has consisted of statements. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News: "Hands on heart, I don't think we can say that this couldn't happen today. In fact, I would wager that this is probably happening today." She urged every organisation that has not signed up to CISA, the industry body that protects whistleblowers, to do so, and said the government is weighing mandatory whistleblower protection if sign-up stays voluntary. She told the BBC that people from institutions, including the BBC itself, have come to her with allegations of their own. Andy Burnham said he will examine how rape cases are conducted in court, so that complainants are not left feeling they are the ones on trial. The prime minister refused to rule out changes to the law.

Brand denied all seven allegations before a jury of eight men and four women, which acquitted him of two rape charges and one accusation of attempted indecent assault after around nine hours of deliberation. The convictions rest on offences committed inside an industry whose institutions are now being asked to sign a charter — the remedy on offer to the sector that employed him. The remedy on offer to the women is an asset-tracing claim against a structure prepared in advance.

Nandy said "time is up" for the media industry to take abuse seriously. The application to change the ownership of the family home was filed six weeks before the verdict.