Russell Brand attended court on Monday to find out his sentence after being convicted of rape and sexual assault.

Russell Brand has been sentenced to 10.5 years in prison after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault charges.

He sat in the courtroom reciting the rosary as victim impact statements were read out.

The crimes he was convicted of took place between 2004 and 2009, with the later crimes taking place just as Brand was embarking on his relationship with popstar Katy Perry.

Ian Winter KC, Brand's lead defence barrister, told the court that his client is a "fundamentally different person" now than he was at the time of the crimes.

He urged the judge to take the four events his client was convicted of as separate incidents as opposed to a pattern of behaviour.

He also suggested that as one of the victims had engaged in consensual intercourse before the anal rape, his client should only be sentenced on the basis of the "very short" incident afterwards.

However, the judge stepped in and suggested: "To say 'He got away with it for 17 years' is not necessarily a huge piece of mitigation, is it?"

Brand's lawyer also spoke about how his wife of 10 years Laura has been dealing with things, and that she is standing by her husband.

He highlighted how the couple are trying to figure out how to explain the situation to their 10-year-old and that she and Russell's child are "totally innocent people caught up here".

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Newstalk (@newstalkfm)

Barrister Riel Karmy-Jones KC set out the prosecution's sentencing position, highlighting to the judge the relevant guidelines and what she considers to be aggravating features.

Using the fifth complainant as an example, who was anally raped by Brand at his townhouse in Hampstead in 2009, she suggested there was "additional degradation and humiliation".

She specifically drew attention to the victime being requested to "clean up the mess", Brand instructing his driver to remove her from his home after the anal rape and his messages to her at the Edinburgh Festival six months later.

Karmy-Jones shared how she believes this alone is enought to place Brand into "category one" for his crimes, which carries a sentence ranging from 10-15 years.

Karmy-Jones read out the victim statement of another victim, who was sexually assaulted by Brand at Choice FM in 2005, and reads: "Russell Brand has managed to move on and even forget that he sexually assaulted me violently in a very public place and in front of people.

"This has had a lasting impact on my life even if I thought that I had successfully buried what happened. The incident impacted my work when dealing with stories of sexual violence

"It affected my relationships with some of my male colleagues. Especially during the MeToo movement."

Russell Brand was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and one count of rape, with the jury returning its verdicts in the trial after deliberating for nine hours and 13 minutes.