POLICE have confirmed they have received a complaint of an alleged sexual assault in London in 2003 after media reports about allegations of rape and assault by Russell Brand.
Four women made allegations of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 as part of a joint investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches and The Times.
Brand (below) denies all the allegations against him.
Since first publishing the story, The Times has now said it has been contacted by “several” more women with claims about Brand.
However, it added that their allegations have not yet been investigated and “will now be rigorously checked”.
Channel 4, the BBC and production company Banijay UK are looking into the issues which have been raised.
A scheduled performance at the Theatre Royal Windsor on Tuesday night has been postponed.
Rosamund Urwin, one of the journalists who worked on the investigation tweeted on Monday that Channel 4 had emailed all its staff about the allegations.
She said Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel 4, emailed all staff to inform them the company had launched a probe into whether bosses "had knowledge of the alleged behaviours" and that the broadcaster had tightened up its safeguarding and whistleblowing policies.
In a statement, the BBC said: “The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years.
“Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
A Channel 4 spokesperson meanwhile says the production company who produced programmes for the channel to investigate the allegations and “report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us”.
“Channel 4 is also conducting its own internal investigation, and we would encourage anyone who is aware of such behaviour to contact us directly”.
Banijay UK owns Endemol – which produced Channel 4 show Big Brother and its spin-offs, which Brand worked at during the time of some of the claims.
In a statement, it said an “urgent” investigation has been launched and encouraged anybody who feels affected to come forward.
The Metropolitan Police said it had received a complaint about an alleged sexual assault in Soho, London in 2003.
A spokesperson said: "On Sunday, September 17, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.
“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.
“We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday September 16 and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police."
Brand performed at a comedy show in London on Saturday evening after the allegations came out, telling fans he loved them but that there were "certain things" he "could not discuss".
Two scheduled performances of Brand's Bipolarisation show have been postponed in the wake of the allegations - one in Windsor and one in Plymouth.
Ahead of the publication of the claims, Brand, who has in recent years repositioned himself as a wellness guru and critic of the mainstream media, released a video entitled So, This Is Happening in which he described the claims as "a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks".
Brand said in the clip: "As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.
"I don't mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations."
He added: "Also, it's worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a co-ordinated attack."
Signing off the video, Brand said: "Now, I don't wanna get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they're working very closely together.
"We are obviously going to look into this matter 'cause it's very, very serious."
Anyone who feels affected by any of these issues can contact Rape Crisis Scotland on 08088 01 03 02.
