Russell Brand GUILTY: 'People like him used to be above the law!' GB Mums react to verdict

Because my daughter's always telling me that, oh, no, don't do that, mummy, it's a scam. What a dramatic thing to happen to someone who was such a superstar. People like Russell Brand used to be above the law. He's going to go down for quite some time, I should imagine. How do you move on from this? I realise, look at me in my pyjamas, I'm not. Hello. Welcome to GB Mums. I realise, look, I'm wearing my pyjamas. I'm not. Another episode. I'm Nana Akweer. I'm Emily Carver. I'm Olivia Rutley. Now, we do have a packed show for you today. We're going to be discussing the news that Russell Brand has been found guilty of one count of rape, three counts of sexual assault. Also elsewhere, we'll talk about how children could face criminalisation under the proposed gender conversion ban. And about the new government data which has revealed that children living in England's most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to be obese. What would you do if your kid was getting fat? Why are their jaws shut? And what is happening in your schools? I'm only joking. That would be bad. We'll discuss how kids in England are to be offered lessons on how to spot fraud. You could be an agony aunt. No, that's being it. What a joy. stop them from eating I'm starting to speak. It's the only answer. No, but listen, there's also going to be lessons offered to how to spot fraud for children. Would this be good? I think it would be good for adults as well. And why are the school bells in Scotland? Being made quieter, we'll let you know later on. All right, that's it. Let's start with Russell Brand. A big verdict so far. He'll be sentenced shortly, but he's been found guilty one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. Not guilty on two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The judge tells him, obviously, a custodial sentence of some length. And he's also been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Monday. The seven charges, they dated between 1999 and 2009, concerned six women. They are all entitled to lifelong anonymity. Let's see. Also, Russell Brand will be investigated over other further rape allegations by two women. Yeah, this isn't the end of it, this. I think. Well, it's dramatic news this afternoon that we brought on the show. Some were thinking that the trial would go on much longer than this, so it was a bit of a surprise that we were hearing the verdicts so soon, but yes, one count of rape dating from 2009, that was a 21-year-old fan after the show in Hammersmith Apollo, I think it was, and then these three other counts of sexual assault. I mean, what a dramatic... What a dramatic thing to happen to someone who was such a superstar. I mean, he was everywhere, wasn't he? He was a TV broadcaster, total entertainer, lived up to that kind of caricature of a sort of lad, sex-obsessed kind of man, leering. Then he sort of had this bizarre sort of change of heart, didn't he? And sort of rebranded himself as a... A born again Christian, some kind of authoritative voice on morality and conspiracy and all this with his YouTube and he's been doing his YouTube right up until this point. But how the mighty have fallen. Absolutely. In a way I find it quite... I mean, it's good news, isn't it? Because it's something, this verdict, it's something that wouldn't have happened sort of 20, 30 years ago. People like Russell Brand used to be above the law. You know, how long did Jimmy Savile get away with it for sort of hiding in plain sight for decades? But now you do get verdicts like this and it is kind of amazing. And it was a really interesting quote from one of the senior police officers who's been leading on this case all the way through, talking about how the bravery of the women who went forward with this. I mean, how terrifying if that was you to try and bring down a man like Russell Brand. But they succeeded ultimately, and in a way it's a good news story that this verdict has come about. But what I will say, and I'm not in support of anything that Russell Brand has been accused of and been found guilty of, but what I will say is, in my view, unless... I think there needs to be a sort of statute of limitations that limits the time with which you can come forward with these sort of allegations. Not if you're a child. If it happens when you're a minor, then fair enough. You know, it's open. Because obviously the evidence is degraded. The information, the longer the time span, the memory fades or changes or, you know, and I'm not saying that people, I mean, clearly these things are terrible and he's wrong with all of this. But I just think that it's, I think it's concerning because he'd actually started to turn his life around. The women deserve justice, but I think there does need to be a limit. Yeah, I get what you mean. Just a time period. I get what you mean, but they obviously felt like they had enough to create this case. And then the jury felt they had enough to convict him. So I just think for adults, if it's a. I just think there needs to be kind of like a window, a wide window. But if in my eyes that wouldn't have fallen within this window, I would have got people to complain about this quicker, get it done sooner, not allow it to. I suppose with a celebrity like Russell Brand, it takes people quite a lot of time to find the courage. He's going to have expensive lawyers. You need to be finding other people who are in the same boat as you because if it's just you, then it's quite difficult. I do know what you mean. Do you know what I mean? And then add to that the difficulty of, because there is such a massive backlog in our courts, so often, And a case will come forward and then it will be actually, you know, another year and a half until it's tried. And by that time, the evidence is even more degraded. Witnesses have forgotten even more. I think with the. I mean, interestingly, the defense, his defense, tried to argue that because of all the media investigations, so the Channel 4 documentary and the Sunday Times, I think it was, that did an investigation and got various women involved with their allegations and claims against him. They were trying to say that that poisoned the minds of the case, the jury, etc., etc. That obviously did not land because he's been convicted of these four crimes. But in terms of also bail, it was quite interesting. They tried to argue that he should be allowed to say goodbye to his family. But instead, the judge decided that, no, on balance, you are going to have to be remanded into custody immediately. And now there are also two extra charges. So he may well be back in court quite soon as well. In terms of the sentence, I mean, it could be anything from Four years to 20 years, because it shows a pattern of behavior, right? It wasn't just one rape. You've also got these three sexual assaults, et cetera, et cetera. But I think it does shine a light on what was permissible on television. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you remind us, because you, it was a little bit, I'm a slightly bit too young. I probably wouldn't have been allowed to watch. Some of the programmes that Russell Brand was on, but people laughed at his jokes. Oh, they loved it. He would say what he would do sexually to people and, you know, I'm not even going to go through some of the things. Really nasty stuff, right? Just stuff that people laughed about. And those, the BBC Channel 4, those people who kind of put him up on a pedestal, knowing how he was. Now, I'm not saying they would have known anything about his behaviour outside of him being on air. But the things he was saying, he told you what he was like with women. He apparently had a sex addiction anyway. And so it's like putting booze underneath the nose of an alcoholic. They put him up on a pedestal and then, you know, there are all these wild young women around him. You know, I remember him doing some of the big burglary type things. He'd go and do all that stuff. It was actively kind of celebrated, and it was laughed at. I don't think you'd have that now. No, exactly, you wouldn't have that now. I also think it's quite interesting. I mean, the judge is clearly very keen to send a message here, because, you know, realistically, Russell Brand isn't going to abscond. He's too famous. He wouldn't be able to leave if he was granted bail. So clearly the fact that he's been remanded in custody shows that the judge is keen to show that nobody is above the law. And I think it is a very different climate for celebrities than it was in the 90s or early 2000s. been a celebrity, he'd have been allowed bail. I don't know. It's a tricky one, isn't it? Because if he wasn't a celebrity, then there would be more of a risk of him absconding. In a way, because he is a celebrity, it would be very, very difficult for him to escape. He'd have journalists running after him. But, yeah, interesting. What do you think? I think he should have. Well, I think they should have just let him say goodbye to his wife and kids. You know, he's going to be punished for the crimes that they have found him guilty of. I think there's no need to punish his children by not being able to say goodbye to I think he's going to go down for quite some time, I should imagine. To me, that would be, I think he was, obviously, if he's done these things, he's been found guilty of them, he should be duly punished. But I think when someone is being bailed or held in custody, it's because they're a danger to the public. And I don't think he's a danger to the public. He's not likely to abscond. So the reasoning, I think, is a further punishment. Yeah, it seems like an extra punishment doesn't it. I mean his wife who stood by him throughout this all, she was seen just leaving the courtroom, head down, straight into a car and off back home presumably. I mean, how do you move on from this? Yeah, and his father sort of putting his hands over his mouth watching it. I mean imagine. I mean will she move on? Will she insist? He's innocent still? I don't know. I don't know, but I mean, so anyway, we'll find out. He's been low for a while, I imagine. Yeah, well, I mean, she's not, she's got nothing to do with it. He changed his life around, he's met somebody and realised the error of his ways. But unfortunately, there are victims as a result of that. So, well, we will follow that closely. But I wanted to move on to this next story. Now, this is the one, Olivia, that you brought to our attention about under the new law that a mother could be arrested for protection or deterred from trans propaganda. This is, of course, the conversion practices bill. Oh, wow. Well, it is an absolutely astonishing bill. Ministers introducing draft laws under which people face up to five years in jail for pressuring someone to change their sexuality or gender identity. So what that means is that if you've got a child or you know a child who is a girl and believes that they are a boy. And you say to them... Well, hang on a moment. Are you sure that's what it is? Are you sure that you are a boy or is it that you're having all these mixed up feelings, et cetera, et cetera? I think what any of our natural reaction would be if our children came to us and said they were a different sex, then you could be punished for it. And there's what's. What's really incredible about this is there's no age limit on prosecutions. So a child at school who questions whether their classmate is actually transgender or questions whether their classmate is actually a cat because, you know, this applies to children who think that they're felines, they could potentially get arrested for it. It's a really, really shocking story and there's a fascinating write-up in the Telegraph by By a woman whose child... A daughter started claiming that she was a boy. The school encouraged it, started calling her by male pronouns. Her mother, as I think any of us would, said, tried to sort of coax her out of it and sort of talk to her about why she might be feeling a bit mixed up and confused, etc. And the school reported the mother to social services. And what's really interesting about this write-up is that she said that... This lasted for five years, she changed schools three times, and the only people who this mother said spoke any sense were actually the social services and the police, who when they did come round her house, could see that she was just an ordinary loving mother doing her best for the children. But she's worried that if this bill comes in, then the social services and police would be legally required to throw their common sense out of the window. I think this is very strange because they're trying to say physical and psychological abuse ...is banned in terms of... You know, trying to convert your child from being gay or convert your child from being transgender. Now, no one wants to see, you know, children being beaten out of their gayness or beaten out of their transgenderism. Obviously not. But that's already a crime. It's very worrying when it gets into speech because psychological abuse against a child who claims that they are a boy or a girl, whatever the opposite is to their gender, that's wrong. That should be a crime. You should not be able to bully and abuse someone. That is already a crime. But trying to talk them through their feelings and suggest that actually, no, you're a girl. You've always been a girl. Mm-hmm. I know you're feeling mixed up and whatever and moving on that and trying to help them. Should never be, never come under law. Should never be up for that. But what I don't understand is how this fits with the Equalities Act because gender-critical views are protected. I find it astonishing that talking in common sense is deemed as gender-critical. Do you know what I mean? It's a weird term, isn't it? It's an odd term that has a level of negativity to it. But I think it's interesting because Baroness Faulkner and also a queer Rhindoff Casey, somebody with my second name, said that the draft legislation was ideological authority Unworkable and wholly unsuitable and I find it shocking that it should be getting any sort of real hearing and it is very, very concerning because in the end of the story, because I read this piece, Olivia, the girl has grown up perfectly normally and kind of got over this. Exactly. And that's the problem here. She could have been taken down a path that is a medicalised path and potentially mutilated or got ready to go through that mutilation of her own body. What I find really odd about this is the way gay and transgender are sort of lumped together. Because what so often happens is that particularly girls who are perhaps surrounded by very young Traditional girly girls at their school might be a lesbian, might be a butch lesbian, and because they're the only one in their year who presents like that and who has these feelings towards other girls, they might look online and think, hang on a moment, I'm transgender. And so actually, whereas what their parents should be doing is saying, no, you're a lesbian, that's perfectly normal, it's normal to be attracted to other women, they're sort of... coaxing them out of their lesbianism by persuading them that they are transgender. So you've got these two different things going on and they've been lumped together in this one bill and it seems very very clumsy because very often children need to be you know accepted for being gay. I just can't imagine having my child in a school where the teachers are helping socially transition them. You have got to have the right as a parent to have some control over how your child goes through school life in that respect if you say my child is a girl or a boy surely the teachers must have to respect that. Well you'd think so. But clearly they don't they don't have to because what the child wants comes first I mean it's very difficult because you don't want to be oh I don't know I just You can't criminalise conversations people have about transgenderism. It just seems quite straightforward and I think they've made something very obvious, complicated, which is a man can never be a woman, a woman can never be a man, and if children believe that they need to be told the truth and then guided to accepting themselves as they are. That's it, really. And if at some point they want to do that when they're not children, then that's down to them. But I think that when, you know... That's quite a powerful message there, Nana. You know, that was what we used to be told. Yeah. Accept yourself as you are. As you are, exactly. And be confident with how you are, whether it's if you've got a massive arse, a big nose, a, you know, frizzy hair. But all of those. Yeah, or if you're gay. Or if you're gay. Yeah. You know, whatever. Or short or fat or thin, whatever. I had massive nose, frizzy hair, big lips, everything. Now that's in fashion. If only I'd known. You're gorgeous, Nana. I do, yeah, I do sometimes compare it. If a young girl says that they're fat, and they're obviously not fat, they're very slim, you wouldn't just say, yes, you are fat, go on a diet. You would say, no, you look beautiful, you look wonderful, you're great as you are. So why do we treat women who say that they're men or girls who say that they're women? They've got to be very careful with this legislation. Mmm. But speaking of being fat, thin, let's talk obesity. Obesity among children in England is on the rise, that is according to new government data. Some 10.7% of children in reception year or primary school ages 4 and 5 are obese. 22.8% of those in year 6, ages 10 to 11 as well. And they said that this is interesting because, you know, everyone likes a little cuddly big chubby baby. We like that. Don't we? Yeah. But then it seems to be that in the less affluent areas there are higher rates of obesity. Does that surprise you, Emily, that that would be the case, seeing as if you got less money sure you'd eat less food, wouldn't you? Well yes, if people were in extreme poverty they'd obviously be thinner. So this is about food choices and, I mean, I don't want to be too judgemental. But clearly a lot of people don't pay attention to diet at all. You know, whatever's quickest, whatever's easiest, whatever's going to fill them up for longest. It's not even cheaper. Junk food isn't cheaper. I know, because when my kids say, I'm going to get at McDonald's. It's convenient. Yeah, but these people are supposed to be less well-off, so less well-off areas are supposedly... Yeah, I mean, if I look at my grandma, she had nothing, single mum raising, you know, my mum and her siblings. I mean... You know, she'd make something out of nothing, you know, like potatoes, vegetables, cheap meats. I do agree with you on the whole, but I've been to, you know, this sounds like a very, very privileged thing to say, but mainly due to my job working here, I've been to sort of constituencies in parts of the country which are very deprived and which you may not think to go to on holiday. And I have been astonished at how difficult it is to get your hands on healthy food. I mean, I suppose that's partly a demand thing that there aren't... There isn't a demand, perhaps, for fruit and vegetables in some deprived areas of England. If you did want to eat healthily, and I remember being in somewhere, a small town in the north of England for a couple of days and I was pregnant and I was early pregnant and I was very worried about being healthy and I was desperate to find fruit and veg and I really couldn't do it. It was very difficult. All I could get my hands on was fish and chips basically. It's all those rubbish corner shops. When I was a student we made, we had no money, we were in Sunderland, Sunderland, I loved it, I loved Sunderland, such a lovely place, and we'd make soup. So we'd get some stock cubes, some water. And then we'd fill it with, you know, cheap vegetables and whatever and everything. Then we'd just take the soup, leave it there. And we'd feed off that for about three or four days. And that's quite healthy. I mean, fundamentally with kids, you know, if your child, unless there's some kind of, you know, genetic reason why they are, you know, overweight, it is controllable. You know, you decide what your child eats. They can't, when they're very young, they can't go out and buy especially at four, yeah. They can't, when they're very young, they can't go out and buy their own food. Would you put, if little George got fat, would you put him on a little diet? I'd watch what I gave him, yeah, definitely. Because, you know, it's a hindrance being overweight. Yeah, well, they're really tough to carry him around right now. Well, there's that too. It's a hindrance growing up fat. You know, no one wants to grow up feeling, you know, uncomfortable in their own body, so, you know. Yeah. I would, I would... Try and give him lower calorie foods. Yeah, I mean, it's the kindest thing to do, isn't it? I mean, go up the stairs and back down, go up the stairs and back down, go up the stairs and back down. But I think it is also a time thing as well. And I'm sure it is harder if you're on your own and you've got six kids. Absolutely. And also the time to get your kids out and running around. I'm sure that is a huge part of it because I think kids who are sort of cooped up watching screens all day are much more likely to be obese because they're not just getting that regular exercise. As you say, much, much harder if you're doing it on your own and if you've got a full-time job as well. But let's talk about fraud. OK. Because school pupils are going to be offered lessons on how to spot fraud because they say that's for children aged 10 to 18. They're going to be rolled out nationally to help reduce the chances of young people being exploited by scammers. Now, this comes as figures show more than 22,000 money-muling incidents where bank accounts are used to transfer funds by criminals, and this was reported in 2025. And I think it was a—or was it a one in five chance more likely to be a young person who's tricked into this, which tells you that four in five are adults. I think the adults need the lessons, not the kids. Yeah, I mean, fine. This is fine to learn about. We all get messages and emails and phone calls that are scams. And you do need to know when it is a scam. That's for sure. Hopefully it won't eat into time on proper subjects. But, you know, I think financial literacy on the whole needs to be taught. I mean, most children don't know what tax is properly until they start paying it. Most people don't know. What an interest rate is, most people don't know anything about mortgages and how you get one, let alone freehold, leasehold. These sort of things are probably quite important to learn. Even before you get into things like fraud. I think they're probably better than us. Because my daughter's always telling me about, oh, no, don't do that, mummy, it's a scam. Oh, no, mummy, were you going to press that? You don't need to do that. Yeah, they're going to know better than us. They're going to know better. Yeah, they probably will know better, to be honest, yeah. The teachers will be learning off the children. I'm a terrible one for falling for scams. I'm always falling for scams. I feel like such an old lady. Luckily, my husband keeps close eyes. Mummy, I've lost my phone. Oh, those are terrible. Can you send me £50 or something? I've had those and I'm like, my eight-month-old baby is right here. I don't think he's messaging me. I get one of those. I say, get a job. I do everything for my daughter. The other day she was using the bathroom, there's hair in the sink and there's toothpaste on there. And I said, what do you think this is, a hotel? Go and get your thing right. Clean up after yourself. If she called me for money, I'd say, no, I don't think so. Anyway. Right, let's go to our final story. Quieter school bells will get children back to school, says the SNP. This is about the Scottish government. They believe that if they lower the volume of the school bells, that it could reduce anxiety in a third of the pupils who are persistently absent. I mean, this is laughably naive, isn't it? Yes, you've got a massive truancy problem in schools, but it's obviously not because children are scared by the school bell. How ludicrous. I can't believe it. I mean, the SNP has gone mad. Plaid Cymru have gone mad. There was a story in the papers this week about how they're sending thousands of pounds to beekeepers in Ghana or something, just out of the kindness of the Welsh taxpayers at heart. But this is nuts. Thank you very much. I think the reason why the pupils are truant is because they're naughty and they probably need a bit more discipline at home and at school. Yeah, the bell's not going to... Scared of the bells, honestly. Anxiety, honestly, that old chestnut. I don't know why there's such a resurgence of anxiety. People can't go outside, clearly. Nobody wants to do anything, just claim anxiety or ADHD. You might hear a bell, you might hear an alarm, you might hear a neenaw, neenaw. Terrifying. Right now, that is the bell. We're out of time for GB Mums. Thanks, Nana. There you go. Well, I've got to also say bye-bye to Olivia, just for a little bit. It's her last episode because she's just going to have her baby. The baby that looks like it wants to pop out right now. Yeah, absolutely. So when is it in July? I'm sure it's the end of the episode. Two weeks. Two weeks, oh my goodness. She needs to be lying at home on a sofa, doesn't she? I do, I do. Working so hard. Tomorrow's my last day. Right till the end. Ding, ding, ding, TV mums. Well, good luck, Olivia. I'll send you lots of photos. Let us know when he or she is born, absolutely. I know what it's going to be, but I won't tell you. I don't want to spoil it. You think it's a girl, don't you? I just changed my mind, actually. Oh, really? You think another boy? You think it's a girl? It's a girl. I think it's a girl. It's a girl. It's nice to have a girl after a boy. Boy and a girl would be quite sweet. It's nice to have a girl before a boy, though, to be fair. It's better to do. The girl first, they're way more helpful. Well, Emily disagrees, don't you? You think a boy and a girl is... Well, only because I always wanted an older brother. Oh, so it's all about you, is it? Yeah, exactly. So I'm assuming that my child will feel the same way as me. It's only because the girls like to help out with the... That's true, yeah, yeah. They like to help out with stuff. Yeah, boys are useless. Yeah, Wilfy gets little dolls and he drives them like they're cars. Oh, we need to wrap this up. Yes, we do. All right, listen, thank you so much for watching. This has been GB Mums from GB Originals. We'll see you next time. Don't forget to like and subscribe.