Branded

Are you there Washington D.C.? Come in please! This is England calling!

Today, at Southwark Crown Court in London, the rapist and sexual predator Russell Brand was put away for ten and a half years having been found guilty of his crimes. It didn't matter that he was a rich media star, famous "comedian" and "writer". It didn't matter that he had settled down in recent years with a  loving wife and their three young children. It didn't matter that he had turned to God or that he wore a crucifix.

Past crimes came back to haunt him and the women he had abused earlier this century at long last achieved some kind of justice. There are at least two other cases against Brand still pending. He may yet have more years added to his sentence.

I began this blogpost in the way I did because I had Jeffrey Epstein and his associates in mind. Numerous other men - mostly wealthy and powerful - were involved in his predation and not one of them has been suitably punished. They used young women like playthings.

Blatant efforts have been made to hide the guilty men's identities through redaction and selective editing of  "The Epstein Files". Months and years pass by and yet still they have not been brought to justice. One of Epstein's closest chums  still occupies a very, very important role in Washington D.C.. He should certainly not be above the law.

Here in England, we have reduced a prince to a commoner and today a wealthy, wacky celebrity has deservedly been sent to prison. It's high time that the wheels of American justice turned  to bring Epstein's associates to courts of law. No more hiding in plain view. No more redaction. No more dodging responsibility with the aid of overpaid lawyers. The oft-forgotten  victims deserve retribution and the perpetrators deserve to be branded criminals - just like Russell Brand today.