CHRIS BRAIN, the founding father of a Sheffield “rave church” movement, the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS), has been found guilty of indecent assaults against nine women.
On Wednesday afternoon, the jury at Inner London Crown Court returned verdicts on 32 of the 37 charges, finding Mr Brain, 68, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, guilty on 17 charges of indecent assault, and never guilty on 15 further charges.
The jury, which has been deliberating since Tuesday of last week, is resulting from reconvene on Thursday to proceed its consideration of an additional 4 charges of indecent assault and one among rape.
In a brief statement, a spokesperson for the Church of England said that they’d comment further when verdicts on all of the fees had been delivered. “We recognise this might be a difficult time for a lot of,” the statement said, and pointed readers to support available via the diocese of Sheffield website.
The assaults of which Mr Brain was found guilty on Wednesday were committed within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. The NOS, which Mr Brain led, began in Sheffield in 1986 and was celebrated for its ability to attract crowds of young people. But it collapsed in 1995 over allegations about Mr Brain’s behaviour, and concerns a couple of “cult-like” atmosphere.
The court heard that among the victims had been a part of a “homebase team” who sorted Mr Brain and his family, and that they became referred to as the “Lycra nuns”, owing to their tight-fitting clothes (News, 8 August).
During the trial, Mr Brain admitted to having had sexual interactions with among the women, but said that these incidents had been consensual. The prosecution barrister, Tim Clark KC, nonetheless, suggested that “any capability that they had to consent had been removed by the domineering nature of the defendant, by his control over their entire lives, and by their absolute terror of being ostracised.”
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