jail

Brand says goodbye to wife Laura Gallacher

A court sketch had captured the emotional moment Russell Brand said goodbye to his wife, Laura Gallacher, as he was led away to begin his prison sentence.

Laura, 39, appeared devastated in the public gallery as Brand was sentenced. As he was led from the dock, he mouthed the words: “I love you” and “we’ll be OK” to his wife.

She was heard saying “Oh God” as her husband was brought into court. Before the hearing began, Brand had reassured her: “It’ll be OK. I don’t know how, but it will.”

A second sketch showed a distraught-looking Laura leaning against the dock as Brand stood to hear his sentence.

RUSSELL Brand was “petrified” tonight after being whisked to a high security jail after his rape and sexual assault conviction.

Brand, 51 – due to be sentenced on Monday – was being monitored around the clock by guards after he was found guilty.

The fallen comic and TV star had to hand over his clothes in reception before being strip-searched and scanned.

He was then taken to an induction wing and given a ‘first-night pack’ which consists of toiletries including a toothbrush and toothpaste and a food pack including cereal, tea, milk and sugar.

The packs also contain treats including Polos, juice sticks, and digestive biscuits.

Brand was also handed one toilet roll and given two pairs of grey prison-issue jogging bottoms plus t-shirts and sweatshirts and underwear.

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He was allowed one three-minute phonecall behind bars – likley to have been made to wife Laura, 39, who supported him during his Southwark Crown Court trial.

But that will be his only call for a week as all phone numbers have to be approved and assigned a PIN.

Brand – understood to have whisked to either Wandsworth or Belmarsh in London – was monitored around the clock and blocked from mixing with other lags.

His first-night meal was an “inedible” microwave offering in reception.

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Staff conducted a first-night interview in which they asked the star about his state of mind and checked he was not a danger to himself.

New inmates are also asked about religious beliefs and Brand was offered a bible.

He was also offered a vape pack.

Brand – who lived in a Hollywood Hills mansion in California when allegations against him were first raised – will tomorrow be assessed by a nurse and a wellbeing specialist.

A source said: “The first night for anyone in a jail is really daunting – and Brand was petrified.

“It will be a massive shock to the system to him and he will be monitored around the clock.

“All prisoners have to strip off in reception which is humiliating and a real wake-up call.

“He will be in prison-issue clothes and given a first-night pack, which will be a world away from what he is used to.

“All his cockiness will disappear as he takes in his new surroundings.

“But he will be relatively safe and watched around the clock by officers and banged up away from other inmates to start with.

“Brand will be in London until and after his sentencing but is then likely to be moved somewhere that specialises in sex offenders where he is more out of harm’s way.”

Wong, in prison since 2020, was found guilty of colluding with foreign entities in violation of the city’s national security law.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who has been in prison since 2020, has been jailed for an additional 10 years.

Hong Kong’s High Court found Wong guilty of colluding with foreign entities in violation of the city’s national security law on Thursday.

The sentence comes just two months before he was expected to be released in January 2027.

“The punishment must fit the gravity of ⁠the crime,” High Court Judge William Tam told a packed courtroom while delivering the sentence.

“It is also necessary for the court to express the community’s abhorrence of the defendant’s scheme and acts with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security.”

Wong, now 30, was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, bodies or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades, or engage in other hostile activities against the government.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in September. Tam said he considered a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but reduced it to 10 because of Wong’s guilty plea and mitigation.

Wong was once the face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and has been in jail since 2020. He was imprisoned over his role in protests held a year earlier.

The demonstrations were prompted by plans to allow extradition to mainland China but soon evolved into a wider pro-democracy movement. Wong became a prominent representative of the movement, regularly appearing on news channels. He later pleaded guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised antigovernment assembly.

‘Endless political persecution’

Governments and rights groups criticised the court’s decision on Thursday.

The United States consulate in Hong Kong said that it “strongly condemns” the additional sentence handed to Wong, and called for his “immediate release”.

“Wong has been unjustly imprisoned since December 2020, demonstrating that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate for fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong,” a consulate spokesperson said in a statement to the AFP news agency.

After his sentencing, Taiwan also criticised the “endless political persecution” of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.

Beijing and the Hong Kong government use “authoritarian tools” to “fabricate charges … engage in endless political persecution, and suppress the people’s legitimate rights to pursue freedom, democracy, and human rights,” Taiwan’s top China policy body said.

Human Rights Watch denounced the latest charge against Wong. “The harsh sentence on baseless charges against Joshua Wong is cruel and unjust. Young people promoting social change are an asset for any vibrant society, but the Hong Kong government puts them behind bars,” said Elaine Pearson, the group’s Asia director.

Amnesty International also criticised Wong’s additional sentence, saying it was “another grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law has become a tool to punish dissent”.