Russell Brand's barrister has reported himself to the Bar Standards Board over his confrontation at court with the journalist whose investigation brought the case to court.
The exchange outside Southwark crown court turned a conviction into a dispute about who deserves credit, and now sits with the body that regulates barristers in England and Wales. It also lands in a live argument about how juries are warned over rape myths, days before Brand is sentenced.
After reading press accounts of the matter on Friday, Ian Winter KC said he had referred himself to his regulator, concluding that his professional duty required the allegations to face proper scrutiny.
Having seen the ways matters have been characterised in today's press, I consider my professional duty requires me to self-report those allegations to the Bar Standards Board so the matter can be subject to proper scrutiny.
An exchange at the courtroom door
On Thursday afternoon, minutes after the jury returned, the clash came at the courtroom door as a group of journalists watched.
Winter told Rosamund Urwin that he hoped she was pleased with herself. The Sunday Times journalist, whose investigation led Brand's accusers to come forward, replied that she was pleased justice had been done. Winter's answer was flat: "Well, it wasn't. You fucked it."
Because her name had come up during the trial, Urwin said, she approached him. "I thought he's talked about me a lot, I'll go and introduce myself and that is a legitimate thing to do," she said on a Times and Sunday Times podcast on Thursday. The introduction took place after the verdicts were delivered.
Two accounts of the exchange
The exchange as reported
Winter and Urwin at the court door, Thursday
- Winter told Urwin he hoped she was pleased with herself.
- Urwin said she was pleased justice had been done.
- Winter said it wasn't, and that she had fucked it.
Urwin's own account
Times and Sunday Times podcast, Thursday
- Urwin said Winter answered with a snarl.
- She could not remember saying she was pleased justice had been done, and had read it in reporting.
- She said he told her it was not justice and used a profanity to suggest she was to blame.
She said the confrontation and the manner of his remarks had caught her off guard.
Published in September 2023, the original investigation was a joint project by Channel 4 Dispatches and the Times and Sunday Times. Four women variously accused Brand of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, but none was a complainant in the criminal trial.
What the jury decided
After a four-week trial, the jury convicted Brand of rape and three counts of sexual assault. It acquitted him on two additional rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault.
Brand raped a 21-year-old fan in 2009, and sexually assaulted three women in separate incidents from 2004 to 2009. Aged 51, he denied every charge. Through Winter, he maintained that the accusations were false and part of a media conspiracy.
During the trial, Winter argued that coverage of the allegations in the Times and the Sunday Times, along with a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, had "poisoned the well" and prevented a fair trial. Mr Justice Bennathan rejected the bid to halt proceedings over negative coverage, ruling that Brand could be tried by people who hadn't seen the earlier reporting.
In a pre-trial argument, Brand, through Winter, accused the journalists who first exposed him of being "criminals" and suggested their 2023 reporting may have amounted to perverting the course of justice.
A complaint that stays confidential
Several complaints are understood to have been submitted to the Bar Standards Board. The regulator said it wouldn't comment on whether it had received information about potential misconduct by a barrister.
What we know
- The Bar Standards Board regulates barristers in England and Wales in the public interest.
- Complaints are usually handled confidentially unless they result in a disciplinary tribunal hearing.
Still unclear
- Whether the board has received information about Winter's conduct.
- What action, if any, it will take on his self-report.
Ben Taylor, who edits the Sunday Times, stood by the newspaper's chief news correspondent, Urwin. He said a jury of eight men and four women, not Urwin, reached the verdict, and that Winter's attack on her integrity also called the integrity of the whole case into question.
I found what Mr Winter did quite extraordinary. I have never seen or heard of a barrister behaving in this way.
Katherine Ryan raised it on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything.
That was so unprofessional, so inappropriate, so aggressive. Really sickening.
- ThursdayVerdicts
A jury finds Brand guilty of rape and three sexual assaults after a four-week trial.
- ThursdayConfrontation
Winter speaks to Urwin outside the courtroom door as journalists watch.
- FridaySelf-report
Winter says he has reported himself to the Bar Standards Board.
- MondaySentencing
Brand, in custody, is due to be sentenced at Southwark crown court.
A rape-myth argument and a sentence to come
In his closing speech, Winter told the jury that none of the complainants had "resisted or screamed or even tried to leave".
Asked about those remarks on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said they came close to victim-blaming and that he supported Claire Waxman's call for the law to change.
I think what I've heard reported heads towards, it's getting very close to victim-blaming, which is something we've thought very hard about in policing and make sure we don't do.
Claire Waxman, victims' commissioner for England and Wales, wants juries to receive updated legal guidance warning them about "rape myths". She criticised "outdated and harmful assumptions" that victims must have screamed or tried to fight off an attacker.
On Friday, a No 10 source said the prime minister, Andy Burnham, shared Waxman's position. Brand's crimes were "horrific", and he had been rightly held to account, Burnham said. "It's not always the case that people know everything about people in public life," he said. "I had no idea of the full extent of what he was doing."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the law is being revised so rape victims' sexual histories and earlier allegations can't be used against them when they're irrelevant.
After the verdicts, Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand to expect a "significant custodial term".
Two other women have made rape allegations that remain under investigation. Court documents indicate one complainant was 16 when the alleged offence took place and later appeared in a Channel 4 documentary. Brand was questioned again by officers in July 2025, and Rowley said he "wouldn't be surprised" if more people came forward.
Brand remains in custody and is due to be sentenced at Southwark crown court on Monday.
