By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) -The leader of a “cult-like” Christian group once backed by the Church of England has been convicted of sexually abusing nine women in his congregation, after a jury returned their final verdicts on Thursday.
Chris Brain, 68, led the Nine O’Clock Service, an evangelical church movement based in Sheffield, northern England, in the 1980s and 1990s.
The group’s nightclub-style services, which were held at 9 p.m. on Sundays, were aimed at young people, featured a live band and attracted hundreds of people at its peak.
But, prosecutors said, Brain controlled members of the congregation, cutting them off from family and friends, and abused his position to sexually assault “a staggering number of women”.
Brain also had a “homebase team” of young women who looked after him, his wife and daughter at their house in Sheffield, who were dubbed “the lycra nuns”, prosecutor Tim Clark said.
He was charged with 36 counts of indecent assault and one count of rape relating to 13 women between 1981 and 1995. He denied the charges and said any sexual contact was consensual.
After a trial at the Inner London Crown Court, Brain was convicted on Wednesday of 17 charges of indecent assault relating to nine women. He was acquitted of a further 15 counts.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining four counts of indecent assault and the alleged rape, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said on Thursday, adding it would “carefully consider” a retrial.
‘FAILING OF THE CHURCH’
The Nine O’Clock Service had the blessing of the Church of England. Prosecutors said in 1990 that the Archbishop of Canterbury-elect, George Carey, had met Brain to discuss his methods.
Brain’s ordination was fast-tracked and the Nine O’Clock Service spent “large sums of money” to obtain the outfit worn by actor Robert De Niro for the 1986 film ‘The Mission’ for the ceremony, prosecutors said.
But Brain resigned and left the church days before the broadcast of a 1995 BBC documentary, which accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour. Carey said he was “crushed and let down” when the allegations were made public.
In his evidence, Brain said he received massages from members of the Nine O’Clock Service, which he said occasionally moved towards sexual activity. He also denied controlling or manipulating members of the congregation.
“What happened was an appalling abuse of power and leadership that should never have occurred,” Bishop of Sheffield Pete Wilcox said in a statement.
“Where concerns were raised in the past and were not acted upon properly, that was a failing of the Church. For those institutional failures I offer an unreserved apology.”
(Additional reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Sandra Maler)
