'Cult' priest guilty of rape and assault of women

A priest who established a "cult" within the Church of England has been found guilty of raping a woman in his congregation.

Chris Brain was also convicted of four counts of indecent assault against three other women who were part of the Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s.

The 69-year-old was found guilty of the offences after a retrial at Inner London Crown Court, having already been found guilty of 17 indecent assaults against nine women at a trial last year.

Brain, previously of Wilmslow in Greater Manchester, is in custody awaiting sentencing at a later date.

Prosecutors told the court Brain had abused his position as a priest to sexually assault "a staggering number of women from his congregation".

The Nine O'Clock Service, known as NOS, attracted hundreds of young people to St Thomas's church with its ground-breaking nightclub-style worship.

But prosecutor Tim Clark KC said it "became a cult" in which members were encouraged to cut themselves off from family and friends, leaving them "utterly dependent" on Brain, and lived in fear of being ostracised if they crossed him.

The verdicts mean Brain has now been convicted of a total of 22 sexual offences against 13 women.

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