A former classmate of Russell Brand has accused him of “groping” schoolgirls at the performing arts school he attended.

It comes as Channel 4 Dispatches, The Sunday Times and The Times published a joint investigation into alleged rape and sexual assault claims against him which he denies.

Brand was a student at London’s respected Italia Conti Performing Arts School back in the day and now new allegations have come to light by actor Tony Brown.

Brown who started at the school on the same day as the comedian in 1991 told The Mirror that Brand grabbed girls under what he called his “cloak of love.”

Brand spoke about the “cloak of love” in his 2007 autobiography, My Booky Wook.

Brown explained: “He started wearing a large black trenchcoat, which he called his cloak of love. He would sneak up behind girls wrapping them in the coat, pulling them in close and touching them under it.

“You would often see the girls flinch. He would be pinching their bums and grabbing their boobs.”

He added: “A couple of his favourite junior girls would have been two years below us, making them around 14. It’s hard to tell what the girls thought as I think at the time they would have put on an act in front of their friends.

“No one wanted to be seen to be the prude and he capitalised on it I suppose. He could manipulate any situation. It wasn’t a normal school environment. Girls probably outnumbered boys by about 20 to one.”

Brown is now a radio presenter and a dad of five, he continued to say: “The way he talked about what he’d done with girls the night before was so disrespectful. I’ve got daughters now. I dread to think anyone would talk about them that way.”

Italia Conti Performing Arts School urges former pupils to come forward

A school spokeswoman for Italia Conti Performing Arts School said: “Italia Conti takes any allegations of inappropriate behaviour extremely seriously, and we have robust policies and ­procedures to ensure that any reported matter is dealt with appropriately.”

She added concerned ex-pupils and others could contact the school.

Newsquest has contacted Russell Brand for a comment.