Actor and comedian Russell Brand has been questioned by detectives from London’s Metropolitan Police over allegations of historical sex offences, British newspaper The Times has reported.

It follows British police saying in September they had launched an investigation into allegations of non-recent sexual offences after media reports that women had accused Brand of a string of sexual assaults.

Earlier that month the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV’s documentary show Dispatches reported four women had accused Brand, 48, of sex offences, including a rape, between 2006 and 2013.

One woman alleged she was raped, while three others accused Brand of sexual assault. One of the women also said he had been physically and emotionally abusive.

Brand has rejected what he has described as “very serious allegations”, saying on his social media channels he has never had non-consensual sex.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment on Sunday’s report from representatives for Brand.

“A man in his 40s attended a police station in South London on Thursday 16 November 2023,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, declining to confirm whether it was Brand.

“He was interviewed under caution by detectives in relation to three non-recent sexual offences. Inquiries continue,” the force added.

Earlier this month, Brand was hit with the first lawsuit arising from the spate of sexual harassment and exploitation charges levelled against him.

The American lawsuit accuses the British-born star of sexually assaulting a film extra on the New York City set of 2011’s flop romantic comedy Arthur, in which he starred as a boozing, philandering heir to a fortune.

It was brought in state court under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gives accusers a one-year window to sue over alleged sexual abuse from a long time ago, even if statutes of limitations have expired.

Warner Bros Pictures, which distributed Arthur, was also named as a defendant, along with other companies involved in the film production. They were accused of negligence and of aiding and abetting Brand by tolerating his misconduct on the set.

The complaint was brought by a woman identified only as Jane Doe. She said she was a cast “extra” in a scene from Arthur filmed at Le Cirque restaurant in Manhattan in July 2010.

The film, a box office dud that drew generally negative reviews, was a remake of a highly successful 1981 movie starring Dudley Moore in the title role as a drunken New York City millionaire on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress when he falls for a free-spirited, working class woman.

The suit seeks unspecified money damages from Brand on grounds of assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.

His representatives in the US and Britain have not commented on the American court action.

-with AAP