The head of Scotland Yard has appealed to anyone with further allegations against Russell Brand to contact police, following the former comedian's conviction for rape and sexual assault.

Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said he would not be surprised if "many more" alleged victims came forward. Brand, 51, who reinvented himself as an online influencer, was convicted on Thursday of raping a woman at his luxury London townhouse and of sexually assaulting three women in front of his entourage at their workplaces, at a radio station and a TV studio.

During the trial, Brand was described as a ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator. He remains under investigation over two further rape allegations, and the Met has submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Speaking to Times Radio on Friday, Rowley said: "There's two more rape allegations that we're looking at. We're encouraging anybody else to come forward if there's any other allegations." He later told BBC Breakfast: "I clearly wouldn't be surprised if many more came forward."

The charges and conviction followed a 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary and reporting by the Times and Sunday Times that aired allegations against Brand.

Dorothy Byrne, a former head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 who has spoken publicly about her own experience of sexual assault, warned of a power imbalance between high-profile talent and younger staff on short-term contracts, which she said often silences victims who fear professional retaliation. "There is such a disparity in power between the talent, who's seen as absolutely key to the success of the programme, and a young person who will be on a very short-term contract and will fear that if she speaks out, she may not be invited back and will be seen as a troublemaker in the industry," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that young women and young men in smaller organisations remain at risk even as conditions have improved in larger ones.

Byrne said she hoped the case would prove a turning point. "I think there will be some men who have behaved badly who will be feeling frightened today because they've seen here really brave young women come forward to the police and make a complaint," she said.

Rowley also criticised elements of Brand's defence, saying some of what he heard reported from the trial was "getting very close to victim blaming". Brand's defence lawyer, Ian Winter KC, had told jurors that none of the complainants had, in his words, resisted or screamed or even tried to leave.

Asked on the Today programme whether he backed the victims' commissioner, Claire Waxman, in her push for the courts and tribunals bill to require judges to direct juries on rape myths and misconceptions in every rape trial, Rowley said: "I strongly support Claire."

His remarks echoed those of Jess Phillips, a Labour MP and former safeguarding minister, who called the trial a "rare insight for the public into the kind of things that get said during rape trials". She noted the defence's reliance on familiar stereotypes, including the argument of "why aren't there more women if this were true", and said it is not easy for a victim to face the very expensive, well-paid lawyers of celebrities during a trial.