Sunday Times Editor Says Brand Lawyer Should Be Held to Account

The editor of The Sunday Times has said the barrister for Russell Brand should be called to account for confronting one of its reporters outside a London courtroom, widening a row that began minutes after Brand's guilty verdicts. Brand, who is in custody, is due to be sentenced on Monday, according to the London Evening Standard.

The editor, Ben Taylor, spoke on Times Radio after the exchange between barrister Ian Winter and reporter Rosamund Urwin at Southwark Crown Court. The Evening Standard reported that Taylor called Winter's behavior "reprehensible" and said he had never seen or heard of a barrister acting that way.

What the Sunday Times editor argued

Taylor said Urwin was not the person who found Brand guilty. That decision, he said, came from a jury of eight men and four women who sat through the case, heard both the evidence and the defense, and returned what he described as considered verdicts.

He argued that by questioning Urwin's integrity, Winter was also casting doubt on the jury, the judge and the case as a whole. Taylor said The Sunday Times strongly supports the jury system and has campaigned to protect it.

Urwin's account of the encounter

Urwin, the newspaper's chief news correspondent, said on a Times podcast that she approached Winter after the verdict because her name had come up during the trial. She said she thought it was legitimate to go over and introduce herself, and that she was surprised to be confronted and spoken to in that way.

According to the Press Association and The Times, as relayed by AFP, Winter told her he hoped she was pleased with herself. She replied that she was pleased justice had been done. Winter then said it had not been, blamed her for the outcome and sarcastically congratulated her, the reports said. The exchange took place on Thursday afternoon while a group of journalists watched.

The regulator and the complaints

In a statement on Friday, Winter said he had referred himself to the Bar Standards Board, which regulates barristers in England and Wales. He said that, after seeing how the matter had been portrayed in the press, he considered it his professional duty to report the allegations so they could be properly scrutinized.

The Times reported that several complaints about the incident have also been sent to the watchdog. A spokesperson for the board told AFP it does not comment on information about potential misconduct and that its procedures are usually conducted confidentially.

Background: the media dispute at the heart of the trial

Urwin had investigated separate allegations against Brand together with Channel Four television. According to AFP, their 2023 reporting on anonymous allegations prompted the women in the London trial to come forward.

The Evening Standard reported that Winter argued during the trial that press coverage had "poisoned the well" and made a fair trial impossible. In a pre-trial argument, he accused the journalists who first exposed Brand of being criminals and suggested they might have perverted the course of justice. Brand denied all the charges and, through his lawyer, said he was wrongly accused and the victim of a media conspiracy.

Trial judge Mr Justice Bennathan rejected the bid to halt the trial. He ruled that Brand could be tried by people who had not seen the earlier reporting.

What the verdicts cover

Brand, 51, was convicted of raping a 21-year-old fan in 2009. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting three women in separate incidents between 2004 and 2009, the Evening Standard reported.

Why it matters: courtroom conduct and how witnesses are treated

The dispute has two strands that affect how the public views the justice system. One is whether a barrister's conduct toward a journalist after a verdict meets professional standards. That question now sits with the regulator, which says its process is usually confidential, so any outcome may not be publicly visible.

The other is how complainants are questioned in sexual offense trials. AFP reported that Winter cross-examined the women in the case, asking why they had not run away or hit Brand and why they waited years to report the crimes. That line of questioning drew criticism. The charity Refuge said it was deeply troubling that justice professionals continue to spread harmful myths about abuse, and called such questioning a "horrific form of victim-blaming."

What happens next

Brand is due to be sentenced on Monday. The Bar Standards Board has not commented on the case beyond describing its general approach to confidentiality.

Earlier on Around Prague: Russell Brand's Barrister Reports Himself to Regulator Over Journalist Clash

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Around Prague, based on reporting by The Straits Times, London Evening Standard