No wonder assault and rape victims stay silent

He’ll be out on licence in seven, but with more allegations in the pipeline for the 51-year-old, the future looks uncertain – and it appears justice has been served somewhat.

Although you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d got off scot-free, judging by the scenes that unfolded outside Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

Despite the details of the depravity of his crimes being in the public eye for all to see throughout his four-week trial, supporters have remained stoic.

So much so, a couple of Neanderthals decided that, on a day when Brand’s victims finally received the justice they bravely sought and deserved, they’d whack out the felt tip and flat sheet.

“Russell Brand. We stand with you. Christ was crucified for telling the truth. Russell is the truth.”

That was the message sprawled across an easycare bed sheet held aloft by his fans outside Southwark Crown Court.

The ink must have run out by the time a couple of crucifixes were added, as other messages were penned in biro to complement the, frankly, disturbing centrepiece.

“Lord Jesus, wake them up. Amen,” another message sprawled on the bed sheet read, along with: “Satan will never. We will all stand.”

Sadly, I’ve got news for these supporters. And if I may apply a slight spin to a classic Monty Python adage: he’s not the messiah; he’s a predatory rapist who’ll rightfully spend the best part of a decade cowering in a prison cell.

But I don’t necessarily blame them for blindly pledging allegiance to a sexual predator who used his fame to abuse women. I blame a refusal to suggest that any accountability should be attributed to him.

And nowhere was that more displayed than by Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC. Despite four guilty verdicts landing on his rapist client’s doorstep, his mitigation arguments read like Brand was a schoolboy in trouble for playing kiss-chase in the playground.

Of course, he’s paid to do a job by Brand. It’s part and parcel of what’s required. He has to try and get as short a sentence as possible for his client. But a seeming absence of introspection in his arguments leaves the most bitter of tastes.

Mr Winter KC refused to acknowledge that Brand’s rape victim would’ve felt humiliated and degraded when being forced to shower and brush her teeth by Brand before sex.

“Whilst plainly unattractive behaviour on the part of Mr Brand, it is not entirely surprising that an ex-alcoholic might prefer not to smell alcohol on an intimate partner’s breath in circumstances where sexual activity was very much expected and intended to follow,” he argued.

When the consensual sex turned to rape, Mr Winter KC characterised the subsequent attack as “really quite a short, momentary total failure to respect her consent in two areas.”

There had been “no planning, there was no premeditation,” he insisted. As if that would be any consolation to a survivor.

There were other unbelievable arguments put forward by the defence, from describing one of the sexual assault victims as “not particularly vulnerable” to heavily leaning on a character reference from Georgina Baillie, the woman at the centre of the infamous Sachsgate.

But most jarring was the suggestion that Brand’s meteoric rise to global stardom should be considered as a “mitigating factor”.

“He started to become very famous and then extraordinarily famous, and we would invite your lordship to conclude that his behaviour for these offences are connected and the consequence of that level of fame.”

Poor little rich boy couldn’t stop himself from raping because he had too much money? Spare me.

Mr Winter even bizarrely referenced the fact that the final offence occurred after Brand met Katy Perry.

I like Katy Perry. California Gurls is a banger. But I have a feeling that if I met her, I’d still be able to stop myself from sexually assaulting someone.

The arguments laid out did nothing but prove why victims of sexual assault daren’t put their heads above the parapet.

Because if some people are willing to believe that diatribe rather than legitimate accounts, then what hope is there?

However, I’m very pleased to see that in the case of Brand, justice prevailed over the madness.