UK police charge comedian Russell Brand with rape

British police charged actor-comedian Russell Brand with rape and a multiple counts of assault over a number of allegations between 1999 and 2005, a police statement on Friday said.

Brand, 50, the former husband of U.S. pop singer Katy Perry and once one of Britain’s most high-profile comedians and broadcasters, had repositioned himself in recent years as an internet social commentator.

Police said Brand, who lives in Oxfordshire, southern England, was