Jo Whiley has said she cried when Russell Brand was sentenced, and recalled a message he wrote to her that makes her shudder in light of his convictions. The disgraced comedian, 51, was jailed for 10 and a half years for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others, and has been accused of abusing his celebrity status to prey on women.

Whiley, 61, discussed the verdict on her Dig It podcast with fellow broadcaster Zoe Ball, and the pair agreed the outcome of Brand's trial felt extraordinarily important for women. Whiley said she had sat with her 18-year-old daughter Coco when the sentencing was announced, describing it as seismic and saying there had since been a lament from women. She said the case was for every woman who had been abused, sexual or otherwise, and that it had brought up a sense of empathy among women and men alike.S1S2

Whiley also recalled a signature Brand had written in her show book, in which he referred to her as a 'Milf', an acronym for 'mother I'd like to f***'. She said the words made her shudder and that she would have to tear out the page and burn it, adding that it was what people expected when they met him. Zoe Ball, 55, described a collective feeling of horror and upset, followed by relief that something big had finally happened that might help women, and said colleagues at her workplace watched the conviction news in silence.S1S2

Brand, who became a Hollywood star with films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hop and the Despicable Me franchise, previously denied wrongdoing and claimed his relationships were consensual. He was sentenced on Monday, November 9, after a jury found him guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others following a four-week trial, and was found not guilty of two counts of rape and one charge of attempted indecent assault. He is expected to serve two-thirds of his sentence before release on licence and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.S1S2