Former priest Chris Brain convicted of rape and further sex offences at retrial

Chris Brain, 69, the former Church of England priest who founded the Nine O’Clock Service, has been convicted of further sexual offences — including rape — following a retrial at Inner London Crown Court.

Brain was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one of rape against additional victims of the Sheffield-based alternative religious movement, which combined rave culture with Christian worship in the 1980s and 1990s, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a press release on Friday. Last year a jury had already found him guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine victims who were members of the Service, bringing his total to 22 offences. He will be sentenced for all 22 counts at a date to be set at Inner London Crown Court.

Working with South Yorkshire Police, prosecutors proved that Brain used his position of spiritual authority to control, isolate and sexually abuse women he had made dependent on his approval. The prosecution described a “cult” in which young women were made emotionally reliant on Brain, and where a so-called “homebase” team of mainly young women was required to care for him at his home. Brain denied all the allegations throughout both trials, insisting the Service was not a cult and that sexual contact with some witnesses was consensual.

Julie Moss, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “For years Chris Brain embarked on a disturbing campaign of manipulation and abuse — intimidating Service members and isolating them from their friends and family to ultimately satisfy his sexual desires. This was not consent. It was forced submission, caused by the culture of fear and dependency Brain had deliberately created.”