A Church of England priest raped a worshiper and abused others after ‘brainwashing’ women who joined his ‘cult’, a court heard.
Chris Brain, 69, is alleged to have sexually assaulted young women in his grasp while running the landmark Nine O’Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield.
The movement held ‘lively’ services, including live bands and light shows, but became a cult dominated by Brain, Inner London The Crown Court was told.
The priest even convinced some of his congregation – often young, attractive women wearing lingerie or revealing clothing – to join his “home base” team and effectively “take care of” his needs.
Brain is accused of raping one woman and assaulting three others between 1983 and 1995, having already been convicted at a trial last year of a series of attacks on women.
He now faces a new trial on five violations that jurors could not decide on in 2025.
Prosecutor Tim Clark KC said: ‘NOS presented itself as a progressive force for good.
‘In reality, the NOS has become a closed and controlled group, dominated by the defendant.
“He first abused his position as a leader and was later ordained a priest, and he used that position to sexually abuse a staggering number of women from his congregation.”
Chris Brain, pictured at an earlier hearing two years ago, was a Church of England priest who led the Nine O’Clock Service in the 1980s and 1990s, when he allegedly sexually abused women
He said the Church of England initially regarded NOS as a ‘stunning success story’.
It seemed “groundbreaking,” he said, because the energetic services were “visually stunning” and popular with young people, many of whom were scantily clad, he said.
The prosecutor said Brain “was the central figure in a cult, he set the rules, he designed the punishments.”
Mr Clark said Brain was aware that the women close to him “feared exclusion more than anything.”
Witnesses later told police they were encouraged to become estranged from their relatives and those not part of the NIS, the court heard.
Jurors were told that Brain raped such a congregant at his home in the mid-1980s while his wife was away.
Three other young NOS members said he had sexually abused them, including by touching their breasts.
The defendant says that he performed sexual acts with a number of prosecution witnesses, but that this was always consensual.
Brain, pictured in court last year, is on trial on charges of rape and sexual assault
Prosecutor Clark said: ‘The Crown will allege that the accused knew, and you can be assured he knew, that all these women had not voluntarily or consensually engaged in sexual acts with him.
“But we have previously subjected ourselves to actions that, without the situation the suspect created, would never have happened.”
He added: ‘Any opportunity for them (the complainants) to consent had been taken away by the defendant’s domineering nature, by his control over their entire lives and by their absolute fear of being ostracized if they did not submit.’
The court heard how some women said they had been ‘groomed’ by Brain and that ‘no one could match him’.
Another complainant said Brain was a “man of God” whom she could not ask questions of, and that she was “terrified” of him.
At his ordination in 1991, large sums of money were spent on robes for Brain to wear, which actor Robert De Niro had worn in the 1986 film The Mission, the court heard.
The prosecutor said Brain was confronted by church members in the 1990s and told them he was believed to have abused as many as 40 women.
But Brain replied, “I thought it was more.”
Brain, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, denies rape and four counts of indecent assault relating to at least 15 alleged incidents involving four women.
None of the complainants can be regarded as alleged victims of sexual offences.
The process continues.
