Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into a number of sexual offence allegations from across the country after media reporting of claims against Russell Brand. The 48-year-old comedian and actor has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for the BBC and Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films. He denies the allegations. Without naming Brand, the Metropolitan police said on Monday it had received a number of allegations of sexual offences in London after an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times. The force added: “We have also received a number of allegations of sexual offences committed elsewhere in the country and will investigate these.” The offences were all non-recent, the Met said, adding that officers would be offering specialist support to all of the women who had made allegations. The investigation is being carried out by detectives in the Met’s central specialist crime command, led by Det Supt Andy Furphy. There have been no arrests and inquiries continue. Furphy said: “We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us. “We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support.” On Monday, the force said it had received an allegation of sexual assault in Soho, central London, in 2003. The original allegations in the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, first published and broadcast on 15 September, include claims Brand assaulted one of the women when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl, while another woman has claimed he raped her against a wall in his home in Los Angeles. The Sunday Times published texts to her – from a phone number that they said multiple sources had verified as belonging to Brand – which said: “I’m sorry. That was crazy and selfish.” A third woman says she was assaulted in the same house the following year after having worked with Brand on a project. Before the first allegations were published, Brand posted a video online denying “very serious criminal allegations” about his personal life, saying he has been “promiscuous” but that all of his relationships had been “consensual”. On Friday, Brand broke his silence since the allegations were published and broadcast, thanking his supporters for “questioning” the allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him. In a three-minute video clip, posted on YouTube, Rumble and X, he said the week since the claims were published had been “extraordinary and distressing”. YouTube has suspended Russell Brand’s ability to make money on the platform but Rumble has rejected calls to do the same. However, a number of large companies, including Burger King, Asos, the Barbican and HelloFresh, the recipe box delivery service, have removed their ads from Rumble. The attorney general, Victoria Prentis, came under fire on Monday for issuing a warning to the media about its reporting of the allegations made against Brand. The note from Prentis said she “wishes to amplify the importance of not publishing any material where there is a risk that it could prejudice any potential criminal investigation or prosecutions. “Publishing this material could amount to contempt of court.” The Times newspaper called on Prentis to withdraw the media advisory “immediately”. In an opinion column, the Times senior writer Sean O’Neill wrote: “Anyone with even the sketchiest knowledge of how the media works surely knows that every single word of reporting on Brand has been rigorously scrutinised before publication.” The column concluded: “The attorney general’s censorious warning has no basis in law. She should withdraw it immediately.”