Ex-Nine O'Clock Service leader Christopher Brain guilty of rape and indecent assault

CentreOn Friday 2 October 2026 a second jury at Inner London Crown Court found Christopher (Chris) Brain, 69, guilty of one count of rape and four sexual or indecent assaults against women linked to the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield. 1 2 MixedThe four assault counts related to three women, according to the Daily Mail and Anadolu Agency. 3 2 MixedBrain had already been convicted at an earlier trial, reported as last August, of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women. The Evening Standard and Daily Mirror say the verdicts bring his total to 22 sexual offences against 13 women. 1 4

CentreHe shook his head slightly and exhaled when the rape verdict was delivered. He was remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date. Judge Freya Newbury said victims could give impact statements at a sentencing hearing likely to last two days. 1 MixedBrain led NOS, an evangelical movement within the Church of England, between 1986 and 1995. It began at St Thomas's Church in Crookes before moving to Ponds Forge in the city centre, and held nightclub-style services with live music and light shows. It drew a congregation largely of students and young adults, with about 500 members at its peak. 1 4 CentreProsecutor Tim Clark KC told the court NOS presented itself as a progressive force for good but became a closed, controlled group that Brain dominated. He said Brain abused his position, first as leader and then as an ordained priest, to sexually assault a "staggering number of women" in his congregation. 1 2

MixedThe court heard Brain isolated women from friends and family, took control of their finances and made them compete for his affections. A "homebase team", nicknamed "the Lycra Lovelies" or "the Lycra Nuns", was set up to look after him. In the retrial, one woman said he lured her to his home, gave her whisky and raped her in an attic bedroom. 1 4 MixedBrain quit as a priest in 1995 when allegations first emerged. He admitted sexual activity with followers, including in a 1995 BBC One Everyman documentary, but said it was consensual. The Daily Mail reports that he told the trial either the acts were consensual or did not happen, denied NOS was a cult and conceded he might have been a "hypocrite". 1 3 MixedJulie Moss, senior crown prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "This was not consent. It was forced submission, caused by the culture of fear and dependency Brain had deliberately created." She paid tribute to the "immense bravery" of the women who gave evidence. 1 3

MixedDetective Superintendent Eleanor Welsh, the senior investigating officer, called Brain a "devious and arrogant sexual predator". She said the women had waited three or four decades for the verdicts and that Brain's denials forced a second trial. 3 2 MixedThe court also heard that at his 1991 ordination Brain insisted on large sums being spent on robes once worn by actor Robert De Niro in the film The Mission, which was taken as a sign of "grandiose self-regard". 1 4