London (AFP) - British comedian and TV star Russell Brand was back in court Monday to find out how long he will spend in jail after being convicted for rape and sexual assaults, with his victims testifying to the trauma they had suffered.

Brand’s conviction last week marked his final fall in a scandal-hit showbiz career that saw him embody the anything-goes culture of 2000s British TV and radio.

In the dock at London’s Southwark Crown Court, Brand, who has reinvented himself as an online Christian guru, held a string of prayer beads and made the sign of the cross before one of his victims personally read out her statement from behind a screen.

The woman said she had been left “traumatised” by the assault in a London bar in 2004 and unable to move on because of Brand’s high profile.

“For many years as his star was rising it was impossible to escape seeing him all over the media, being celebrated for his disgusting behaviour against women like it was all a joke,” she told the court as Brand listened impassively, looking straight ahead.

Brand was unanimously convicted by a jury on Thursday of one rape and three sexual assaults against four women, committed between 2004 and 2009.

Denying him bail after the guilty verdicts, the judge warned Brand, 51, he faced a “significant custodial term”. The maximum sentence in the UK for rape is life imprisonment.

- ‘Celebrated’ -

A second woman, a 21-year-old fan he raped in 2009 after they met at one of his shows, told the court she had felt she simply would “not be believed” if she reported him.

“His fame, wealth and influence created a power imbalance which made me feel powerless,” she said, adding the consequences of the rape had “affected almost every aspect of my life”.

As he entered the dock, Brand – dressed in a dark suit and white shirt and with his hair in a top knot – looked around briefly.

Spotting his wife Laura Gallacher, with whom he has three children, the pair mouthed words to each other as a member of Brand’s entourage in the public gallery held a Bible with passages highlighted.

The hearing came as Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the victims’ bravery would bring about wider changes to the legal system.

Burnham pledged to be “relentless in making whatever improvements we can” to provide more support for victims, including making sure there were teams in every police force for handling rapes and serious sexual offences.

Brand was cleared of two other alleged rapes and one count of attempted indecent assault. But he is facing further investigations after London police said it was probing rape allegations by two more women.

From Channel 4 to MTV and an eponymous primetime show on BBC Radio 2, the wild-haired comedian worked for major British media houses in the 2000s, where his obsession with sex contributed to his notoriety.

His behaviour featured in the high-profile trial, with Brand admitting he had been “extremely promiscuous” and had used his fame to “facilitate sexual access”, although he denied the charges.

- ‘Wake-up call’ -

Born to working-class parents in Essex, east of London in 1975, Brand dropped out of drama school before joining MTV at the age of 25.

He had his own radio show at the BBC, which last week apologised for the “culture and failings” when Brand worked there between 2006 and 2008.

Brand left the BBC after sending a well-known actor sexually explicit messages about having slept with his granddaughter.

He made a foray into Hollywood after a brief marriage in 2010 to US pop star Katy Perry, followed by a stint as a left-wing commentator and campaigner.

The court found him guilty of sexual assaults against an MTV worker, a Channel 4 worker and a Capital Radio employee, as well as raping a 21-year-old fan.

The organisations that propped up Brand for years despite complaints are now facing questions about how he had continued for so long.

British culture minister Lisa Nandy on Sunday said men in power were still exploiting women in the media industry, saying his case was a “wake-up call”.