Russell Brand charged with two more sex offences

Comedian and actor Russell Brand had been charged with a new count of rape and another of sexual assault, British police said on Tuesday. 

According to Reuters, the new charges - authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service - related to two women and followed five charges made in April involving four other women: two counts of rape, one of indecent assault and two of sexual assault, going back more than two decades.

The 50-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on January 20 in relation to the new charges. 

A trial on the earlier charges is scheduled to begin at Southwark Crown Court on June 16.

The comedian pleaded not guilty in May to the five original charges. 

Once a well-known broadcaster in Britain and a former husband of US pop singer Katy Perry, he has denied having non-consensual sex.

After the original charges were announced, Russell Brand said he had been a fool and a sex addict in his younger days but "what I never was, was a rapist".

The original investigation began in September 2023 after allegations were reported by Channel 4 TV's "Dispatches" show and The Sunday Times newspaper.