The actor and comedian Russell Brand is under investigation by a second UK police force amid new allegations of “harassment and stalking,” numerous UK media sources reported on Monday.
Brand, 48, who is being investigated by London’s Metropolitan Police following the publication two weeks ago of an array of sexual-abuse allegations by The Times, the Sunday Times and broadcaster Channel 4, is also the subject of a separate probe by the Thames Valley police, several media sources, including The Guardian and the BBC, said.
Brand has denied all allegations made against him.
“Thames Valley Police in the past two weeks received new information in relation to the harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018,” the police force said in a statement without directly naming Brand. “This information is being investigated. As such, it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.”
Thames Valley Police is the force that operates in the Henley-On-Thames region of Oxfordshire, where Brand resides and where he also owns a pub. The entertainer didn’t immediately comment on the new allegations when contacted by the BBC.
The unnamed woman at the center of the new claims had reported her allegations to Thames Valley Police on multiple occasions between 2018 and 2022, the BBC said, but the police declined to take further action. Brand had accused the woman of harassment in 2017, the outlet also said.
Last week, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had opened an investigation into allegations of sexual offenses by Brand in London, as well as “elsewhere in the country.” Dates given for the alleged offenses are not recent, the force added.
In a video published online on the eve of allegations against him being made public, Brand said that he “absolutely refutes” the “very serious criminal allegations,” which he described as “extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.” He added that his sexual relationships had “always” been consensual.
Among the original allegations against Brand made public in September is one by a woman in her 30s who is accusing him of assaulting her when she was 16. Another woman claims that she was raped by Brand at his residence in Los Angeles. Dates for all these alleged offenses are given as between 2006 and 2013.
Brand, who has published several videos online in recent days, has not directly referenced the specific allegations against him, other than to deny them and to thank supporters for “questioning” the claims.