A former priest accused of leading a rave-style evangelical cult in the Church of England has been found guilty of indecently assaulting nine of his female followers.
A trial heard Christopher Brain, who led the progressive Nine O-Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield in the 80s and 90s, surrounded himself with women who wore lingerie or revealing clothes as part of his “homebase team” who kept his house “spotlessly clean”.
The court heard the women – sometimes referred to as “the Lycra Lovelies” or “the Lycra Nuns” – were on a rota to help then-Reverend Brain with his every need. Some gave him “sensual” massages which he told the jury were to relieve tension headaches.
He was charged with one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault relating to 13 women between 1981 and 1995.
On Wednesday, jurors at Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women. However he was acquitted of another 15 charges of indecent assault against two women.
The jury is still deliberating the rape charge and four further counts of indecent assault.
The six-week trial heard how Brain, 68, was praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury after his “club culture” inspired services at St Thomas’ Church in Crookes, Sheffield, and later Ponds Forge leisure centre, drew hundreds of young congregants.
He was fast tracked for Holy Orders as the movement took off, but it collapsed in controversy in 1995 after women alleged their charismatic leader had been sexually assaulting them, in some cases claiming he was helping to heal their sexual repression.
Prosecutor Tim Clark KC told the court he “abused his position first as a leader and then as an ordained priest to sexually assault a staggering number of women”.
When Brain was first confronted over claims he had abused up to 40 women, he replied: “I thought it was more,” the court heard.
Mr Clark said NOS became a cult in which members, who were vetted and organised into “discipleship” groups, were isolated from their friends and families.
“Members of NOS became utterly dependent on NOS and desperate for the attention and praise of the defendant,” he added. “They were encouraged to give up their time, finances and, eventually, their sense of self to this organisation and its leader.”
One woman who first joined the church as a teenager said she viewed Brain as a “form of prophet” who told her their contact was part of her “sexual healing”.
“She found it impossible to leave, she made an effort one time but was talked out of it,” Mr Clark said. “She describes becoming severely depressed. She stated that she engaged in the sexual activity, or more precisely submitted to it occurring, in order to survive.”
Another woman said she “viewed him as almost a God”. The prosecutor said Brain would suddenly appear in the lives of female members of NOS, often picking them up in his car whilst they were walking along. Women who did not keep the defendant happy would find themselves estranged from the group, he added.
One female congregant, who believes she was “brainwashed” by the priest, alleged he invited her to his home while his wife was away in 1983 or 1984, where he pinned her down and raped her.
She told the jury she was moving her head “from side to side” and “saying no”, adding: “I couldn’t get him off me.”
Another woman alleged she had to be available to “put him to bed”. On those occasions, he would undress and rub himself against her as she massaged him while wearing only her underwear, the court heard.
Mr Clark said: “She described going into a ‘robotic’ state doing this, she dreaded receiving his phone calls.”
The jury was told Brain admitted to “improper sexual conduct with a number of women” in the church in a bombshell 1995 BBC documentary, but denied this was abuse. He resigned from Holy Orders the same year.
Giving evidence in his defence, Brain admitted he received back massages from women in the movement despite being married with a young child.
Asked by his lawyer, Iain Simkins KC, “what on earth possessed you to have a back massage from another woman”, he responded: “Why not?”
He told the jury he suffered from “terrible” tension headaches. He said people in the homebase team, formed to free up his time to take the religious movement on the road, were “personal friends” and the massages were not part of their duties.
He admitted to having sexual contact with up to six of his accusers, but insisted it was consensual. Some of the other alleged assaults simply did not happen, he claimed.
He told the jury, “I was the most radical ordained vicar there was” as he defended his actions, adding: “I wasn’t a traditional vicar, I was someone on a journey of radical research and experimentation.”
He insisted NOS was a “free, open, really caring, very fun environment” and as they started to develop their own theology around 1990, some members became interested in tantric celibacy.
He added: “With some of my closest friends, it would be kissing sometimes, occasionally massaging, stroking. Anything more than that, we would back off.”
Jurors will return to court at 10am on Thursday to continue deliberations.
