Russell Brand was a ‘wild-eyed maniac’ during alleged MTV assault, court hears

She gave evidence behind a screen in court and said that Mr Brand “grabbed my forearm” with a “forceful grip” while leaning against the door to the toilets, trying to pull her inside.

The woman worked for MTV in 2001, at a time when Mr Brand was a “flagship presenter” for the TV channel.

She said she had never met him before the alleged assault, but recognised Mr Brand “straight away.”

Jurors heard that when the pair first met at the MTV offices, they shared “banter” about an “I am Spartacus” T-shirt he was wearing.

But, according to the complainant, suddenly “his demeanour changed,” and during the alleged attack, Mr Brand “turned into this wild-eyed maniac” with a “wild look in his eye”, the court was told.

She alleged the incident lasted around 20 seconds and took her by surprise, telling Mr Brand: “What are you doing? Are you mad? Let me go,” jurors heard.

She said “it took some force to wrench myself away from the grip,” before Mr Brand went into the cubicles.

Defending, Ian Winters KC, suggested Mr Brand was only “asking” her to join him in the toilets, but the woman firmly rejected this.

She told jurors: “I wrenched my arm away… it was not consensual… he was begging me, ‘Go on, come in.’ That is not inviting someone into the toilets”

The woman said she never told her employers about the alleged assault, because Mr Brand was “a big asset for MTV” and she “had a mortgage to pay,” worried about losing her job.

Mr Brand has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.

Earlier in the day, a former flatmate of Mr Brand told jurors that “sex was a huge preoccupation” for the comedian.

Andrew Dobson, who worked on a fringe event that Mr Brand was performing in during the Labour Party conference in 1999, told Southwark Crown Court that he recalled nights out when “the pursuit of ultimately getting someone in bed was [Mr Brand’s] preoccupation.”

Mr Dobson said he stayed in the same guesthouse as Mr Brand during the Labour Party conference. On the day after Mr Brand allegedly raped a woman, Mr Dobson claimed that the TV presenter had a “panicked urgency” to leave Bournemouth.

Mr Dobson told jurors it was “very hurried and rushed” when they left, and he was “feeling tense”.

In the car on the way back to London, Mr Dobson said there was “a charged prickly atmosphere.”

Mr Dobson described Mr Brand as “very egotistical, very vibrant, lively, very demanding and persuasive” in 1999, at the time of the alleged rape.

Mr Brand’s defence questioned whether women would “swoon” over him, to which Mr Dobson replied: “He was certainly charismatic.”

Jurors were also read two witness statements from one friend and one acquaintance of the alleged victim, who both said the woman told them that Mr Brand had raped her in 1999.

The trial continues.