Connect with us

Published

on

Channel 4’s chief executive has described the allegations made against Russell Brand as “horrendous” and said it is clear that “terrible behaviour towards women was historically tolerated” in the TV industry.

Alex Mahon made the comments about Brand as she addressed the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention, scheduled before the allegations of sexual assault emerged at the weekend.

Some of the claims date back to when the comedian was presenting the Big Brother spin-off programme Big Brother’s Big Mouth on Channel 4.

Brand, 48, denies any allegations made against him.

Mahon told the audience at the convention that the alleged behaviour, made public in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, needs to be looked into further.

She urged people with any information to get in touch anonymously if they want to.

“They’re not empty words or gestures,” she said, adding that the broadcaster will look to find out who knew what about any alleged inappropriate behaviour during Brand’s time on the show.

Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon addressed the Russell Brand allegations at the RTS Cambridge Convention. Pic: Richard Kendal/RTS
Image:
Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon at the RTS Cambridge Convention. Pic: Richard Kendal/RTS

“But what is clear to me is that terrible behaviour towards women was historically tolerated in our industry, and the clips we’ve seen as well provide a rather shocking jolt when one realises what appeared on air not that long ago,” she said.

“The behaviour is less prevalent now, but it’s still a problem and it’s something that we must all confront. There is still more change that needs to come.”

She added: “The allegations made against Russell Brand are horrendous, and as a CEO of Channel 4 and as a woman in our industry.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

BBC boss asked about Brand allegations

Read more:
Why are allegations only out now?
How YouTube stars make millions

“I found the behaviours described in Dispatches and The Sunday Times and The Times articles disgusting and saddening.

“The allegations of course need to be followed up further, and we and the BBC and Banijay [a production company] are busy investigating.”

BBC general director, Tim Davie, who was also speaking at the event, said there needed to be an “important dialogue around the deep imbalances of power” within the television industry.

BBC director-general Tim Davie on stage at the RTS Cambridge Convention. Pic: Richard Kendal/RTS
Image:
BBC director-general Tim Davie on stage at the RTS Cambridge Convention. Pic: Richard Kendal/RTS

“I think there’s a deep responsibility for the leaders. The culture needs to be one of trust,” he added.

“There has been deep problems with misogyny, abuse of power, and we just have to be utterly vigilant – be unaccepting of it.”

BBC and Channel 4 remove Brand content

Four women made sexual abuse allegations against the star between 2006 and 2013 as part of the investigation by The Sunday Times and Dispatches.

Brand, who denies the allegations, claimed in a video posted online on Friday night that all his relationships have been “consensual”.

The Metropolitan Police said it received an allegation of sexual assault against Russell Brand dating back to 2003 following the publication of the claims.

On Tuesday, Mr Davie announced a review into Brand’s time at the corporation.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

TV exec: Brand allegations ‘depressing’

The announcement came hours after the broadcaster removed some of its content featuring Brand from iPlayer and BBC Sounds.

TV production firm Banijay UK, owners of Endemol, which produced Big Brother and its spin-offs, confirmed over the weekend that it had launched an investigation.

YouTube also suspended adverts on videos by Brand, while Channel 4 took down content featuring the comedian from its streaming service.

The Google-owned company said it had suspended the monetisation of Brand’s channel for “violating our Creator Responsibility policy”.

The comedian found fame in the early 2000s on the stand-up circuit and as a TV host, before starring in Hollywood films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and presenting a show on BBC Radio 2.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

However, in recent years, he has switched to wellness coaching and producing regular YouTube videos – from which he is thought to derive much of his income.

Brand maintains a presence on Rumble – a video site popular with some conservatives and far-right groups – where his channel has 1.4m followers and X, formerly known as Twitter, where he has more than 11m followers.

He has not posted on either since his video denial on Friday.

‘Pretty depressing’

It comes as a TV executive who worked at a company that hired Brand described the allegations against the star as “depressing”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Russell Brand denies ‘serious allegations’

Phil Edgar-Jones was creative director of Remarkable Pictures, part of Endemol UK, and oversaw Big Brother during its Channel 4 years.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “There was never any sense that he’d done anything inappropriate that was brought to our attention, certainly.

“We knew he had a reputation for being promiscuous – and everybody knew that at the time – but that’s as far as it went, as far as we knew.”

He added that the allegations were “pretty depressing”.

Mr Edgar-Jones, who is now director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, went on to stress that Remarkable Pictures would “100%” have acted if something was brought to its attention.

Removing YouTube earnings is ‘cancel culture’

Brand was at the centre of the so-called “Sachsgate” scandal in 2008, when he and TV presenter Jonathan Ross left lewd messages on the answerphone of Andrew Sachs, the late actor who starred in Fawlty Towers.

The voicemails had related to Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie, who had an on-off relationship with Brand in the 2000s.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Evidence against Brand ‘compelling’

Speaking to The Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, Baillie said that YouTube’s decision to suspend earnings from Brand’s channel amounted to “cancel culture”.

The 38-year-old actress went on to say that, even though she did not know all of the details surrounding the allegations, some of the evidence is “compelling”.

When asked about her thoughts about the claims, Baillie added: “I don’t know what happened there – I don’t know because I wasn’t there. He never did anything like that with me, everything was more than consensual, I promise.”

Continue Reading

UK

Jury shown CCTV and bodycam footage of brothers allegedly assaulting police at Manchester Airport

Published

on

By

Jury shown CCTV and bodycam footage of brothers allegedly assaulting police at Manchester Airport

CCTV and police bodycam footage allegedly showing three police officers being assaulted at Manchester Airport has been played to jurors.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to the airport on 23 July last year, following Amaaz allegedly headbutting a customer at a Starbucks in Terminal 2.

Minutes later, three police officers approached the defendants at the paystation in the terminal’s car park.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court today watched CCTV footage from opposite angles, which captured what the prosecution says was a “high level of violence” being used by the siblings.

The prosecution says Amaaz resisted as officers tried to move him to arrest him, and Amaad then intervened.

Junior counsel Adam Birkby suggested Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of PC Lydia Ward, which knocked her to the floor.

His brother Amaad is then said to have aimed six punches at firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden.

Amaaz also allegedly kicked PC Marsden and struck firearms officer PC Ellie Cook twice with his elbow.

He is said to have punched PC Marsden from behind and had a hold of him, before PC Cook discharged her Taser.

Human Rights lawyer Aamer Anwar (centre) arrives with Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) at Liverpool Crown Court, where
Image:
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) arrive at the court with their lawyer. Pic: PA

The bodycam and CCTV footage, submitted as evidence by the prosecution, allegedly shows the officers’ arrival in the Terminal 2 car park and their attempts to arrest the siblings, as well as their exchanges with them.

PC Ward can be heard saying “Oi, you b*****d” in footage from her bodycam, the prosecution evidence appears to show.

She then appears to fall to the floor and screams.

PC Cook, who is pointing her Taser at one of the defendants, then allegedly says: “Stay on the floor, stay on the floor whatever you do.”

“Get back, get back,” PC Ward appears to say.

The bodycam footage, shown to the jury by the prosecution, shows PC Marsden, who is also pointing his Taser, appear to approach the defendant who is lying on the ground and kick out at him.

Mr Birkby said: “Mr Amaaz, while prone, lifts his head towards the officers. PC Marsden kicks Mr Amaaz around the head area.

“PC Marsden stamps his foot towards the crown of Mr Amaaz’s head area but doesn’t appear to connect with Mr Amaaz.”

Amaaz denies three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to the three police officers and one count of assault to Abdulkareem Ismaeil, the customer at Starbucks.

Amaad denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to PC Marsden.

Continue Reading

UK

Stephen Doohan: Paramedic who secretly gave pregnant woman abortion drug jailed for more than 10 years

Published

on

By

Stephen Doohan: Paramedic who secretly gave pregnant woman abortion drug jailed for more than 10 years

A paramedic who secretly gave a pregnant woman an abortion drug during sex has been jailed for more than 10 years. 

Stephen Doohan, 33, was married when he met the woman on holiday in Spain in 2021 and began a long-distance relationship.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how the victim travelled to Edinburgh in March 2023 to visit Doohan after learning she was pregnant.

During consensual sex, Doohan twice secretly administered the tablets which led to the woman suffering a miscarriage.

In May, Doohan pleaded guilty to sexual assault and causing the woman to have an abortion. He returned to the dock on Monday where he was jailed for 10 years and six months.

Lord Colbeck said Doohan caused “long-term psychological injury” to his victim.

The judge said: “You put her through considerable pain over a number of days and left her facing a lifetime of pain and loss.”

More on Edinburgh

The court heard how the woman found tablets hidden under the mattress after she became suspicious over Doohan’s behaviour in bed.

Lord Colbeck said: “The complainer then carried out an internet search for abortion tablets and confronted you over your actions.”

After the woman fell ill, Doohan convinced her to lie to medics at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh amid fears he would be arrested if she told the truth.

The victim later attended another hospital with her sister and was told she was having a miscarriage.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said Doohan sent the woman gifts including perfume, socks, facial cleansing oil, money to get her hair done and bought tickets for them to attend a football match.

Read more from Sky News:
Mother guilty of murdering three people with poisonous mushrooms
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza

The woman complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service in May 2023, sparking an investigation.

The court heard that on 14 March 2023, the day the woman told Doohan she was pregnant, the paramedic used a work intranet to search for abortion drugs.

Lord Colbeck said: “You planned out what you did to your victim using resources available to you as a paramedic.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Doohan was also added to the sex offenders’ register and banned from contacting his victim.

Fiona Kirkby, procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, said: “Stephen Doohan’s calculated and heinous actions caused the loss of the victim’s pregnancy, robbing her of plans she had for the future.

“He has now been held accountable for this fundamental breach of trust.

“While offences like this are thankfully rare, I hope this prosecution sends a clear message to all those who seek to inflict sexual harm towards women.

“Our thoughts remain with the victim, who must be commended for reporting her experience and seeking justice.

“We recognise that reporting sexual offending can be difficult but would urge anyone affected to come forward and seek support when they feel ready to do so.”

The Scottish Ambulance Service branded it an “appalling case”.

A spokesperson added: “We recognise the courage it must have taken for the victim to come forward and speak out.

“As soon as we learned of these very serious allegations and charges, we immediately took action, providing ongoing support to her whilst liaising with Police Scotland throughout the investigation.

“We know nothing will change what has happened to the victim and all we can hope is this sentence provides some comfort to them.”

Continue Reading

UK

UK farmers have ‘nothing more to give’ as they fear govt will compromise welfare in US-UK trade deal

Published

on

By

UK farmers have 'nothing more to give' as they fear govt will compromise welfare in US-UK trade deal

UK farmers have “nothing more to give” as they fear the government will use agriculture to further reduce US tariffs in a trade deal with the White House.

The UK is trying to reduce steel tariffs to zero, from a current reduced rate of 25%, but Downing Street refused to confirm if it was confident ahead of Donald Trump’s deadline of 9 July.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said UK agriculture had already been used to reduce Trump-imposed tariffs on cars but any other concessions would have serious repercussions for farmers, food security and the UK’s high animal welfare standards.

Politics latest: Downing Street refuses to rule out wealth tax

He told Sky News: “It just feels like we, as the agricultural sector, had to shoulder the responsibility to reduce the tariffs on cars from 25%.

“We can’t do it anymore, we have nothing more to give.

“It’s clear the steel quotas and tariffs aren’t sorted yet, so we just want to be very clear with the government: if they’re sitting around the negotiating table – which we understand they are – they can’t expect agriculture to give any more.”

More on Donald Trump

Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, speaking to Sky News
Image:
Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, said farmers cannot give any more

‘Massively undermine our standards’

Since 30 June, the US has been able to import 13,000 tonnes of hormone-free British beef without tariffs under a deal made earlier this year, which farmers feel was to reduce the car import levy Mr Trump imposed.

The UK was also given tariff-free access to 1.4bn litres of US ethanol, which farmers say will put the UK’s bioethanol and associated sectors under pressure.

Allowing lower US food standards would “massively undermine our standards” and would mean fewer sales to the European Union where food standards are also high, Mr Bradshaw said.

It would leave British farmers competing on a playing field that is “anything but fair”, he said, because US food can be produced – and sold – much cheaper due to low welfare which could see a big reduction in investment in UK farms, food security and the environment.

Read more:
Trump tariff deadline extended as new threats issued to BRICs nations

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Can the UK avoid steel tariffs?

‘The US will push hard for more access’

He said the US narrative has always suggested they want access to British agriculture products “as a start and they’ll negotiate for more”.

“The narrative from the White House on 8 May, when a US-UK trade deal was announced, was all about further access to our agriculture products – it was very different to what our government was saying,” he added.

“So far, the UK has stood firm and upheld our higher welfare standards, but the US will push very hard to have further access.

“No country in the world has proved they can reduce the 10% tariffs further.”

US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP
Image:
US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP

US ‘will target poultry and pork’

The Essex farmer said he expects the US to push “very hard” to get the UK to lower its standards on poultry and pork, specifically.

US poultry is often washed with antimicrobials, including chlorine, in an attempt to wash off high levels of bacteria caused by poor hygiene, antibiotic use and low animal welfare conditions not allowed in UK farming.

US pig rearing methods are also quite different, with intensive farming and the use of feed additive ractopamine legal, with both banned in the UK.

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We regularly speak to businesses across the UK to understand the impact of tariffs and will only ever act in the national interest.

“Our Plan for Change has delivered a deal which will open up exclusive access for UK beef farmers to the US market for the first time ever and all agricultural imports coming to the UK will have to meet our high SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) standards.”

Continue Reading

Trending