Former priest Chris Brain found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault

A former Church of England priest who ran a rave-inspired “cult” group has been found guilty of indecently assaulting nine women.

Chris Brain, 68, led the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS) in the 1980s and 1990s in Sheffield, with services aimed at 18 to 30-year-olds featuring multimedia, scantily-dressed women, and a live band.

The movement was initially seen by the church as a “ground-breaking” success story and attracted between 500 to 600 people to worship at 9pm on Sundays after NOS moved from St Thomas Church to The Rotunda in Ponds Forge.

Brain, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, denied committing sexual offences against 13 women, including one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995.

Today he was found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault relating to nine women and acquitted of 15 similar charges.

The jury is still deliberating on five outstanding counts, including the rape charge.

Inner London Crown Court heard Brain’s ordination was “fast-tracked”, including claims he cheated in his exams, and he wore the same cassock as Robert De Niro in The Mission for the ceremony in 1991.

But prosecutors said NOS became a “closed and controlled group”, in which Brain “dominated and abused his position” to sexually assault a “staggering number of women from his congregation”.

NOS collapsed in 1994 after women made allegations about Brain, who resigned from his holy orders in 1995 amid “enormous media interest”, the court heard.

‘Allegations destroyed my life’

Giving evidence, Brain admitted receiving back massages from some NOS members, which he said started as a way to relieve tension headaches, but would “very rarely” lead to sexual activity.

“With some of my closest friends, it would be kissing sometimes, occasionally massaging, stroking. Anything more than that, we would back off,” he said.

He told the jury any touching was done with “100%” consent, and he would’ve “instantly stopped” if anyone had indicated they were uncomfortable.

Brain said the allegations had “basically destroyed my life” and suggested the women had “to exaggerate these things to make it either sexual or controlling” in order “to make a criminal case”.

Brain said he became involved in the dotcom boom in the late 1990s before setting up a business helping smaller firms transition into big companies, which folded once he was charged.