Ian Winter KC has referred himself to the Bar Standards Board after a confrontation outside Southwark crown court following the Russell Brand father case. The exchange came on Thursday afternoon, moments after Russell Brand was found guilty of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Winter told Rosamund Urwin, “I hope you are pleased with yourself”, after she approached him outside the courtroom door. Urwin replied, “I’m pleased justice has been done”, and Winter answered, “Well, it wasn’t. You fucked it.” He then added, “Congratulations”.
Southwark crown court clash
Brand, 51, was convicted after a four-week trial and cleared of two further charges of rape and one of attempted indecent assault. During that trial, Winter had said none of the complainants had “resisted or screamed or even tried to leave” during their encounters with Brand, a line that fed the wider argument over rape myths in the courtroom.
Urwin later said she approached Winter because her name had been mentioned during the trial, and that she was surprised to be confronted and spoken to in that way. She had also said, “I thought he’s talked about me a lot, I’ll go and introduce myself and that is a legitimate thing to do”.
Friday lunchtime referral
On Friday lunchtime, Winter said: “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.” That puts the next move in the regulator’s hands, with complaints already understood to have been submitted.
The immediate consequence is straightforward: a barrister who represented Brand is now facing professional scrutiny over conduct outside court at the exact point a rape conviction had just landed. For readers following the case, the legal verdict is no longer the only story; the conduct around it is now part of the record, too.
