Women dressed in revealing clothes known as ‘Lycra nuns’ kept church cult leader’s home spotless, sexual abuse trial hears
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A priest once hailed for his “groundbreaking” services became the leader of a cult in the Church of England and sexually abused a “staggering” number of women, a court heard.
Christopher Brain, who led the progressive Nine O-Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield in the 80s and 90s, surrounded himself with women who wore lingerie or revealing clothes as part of his “homebase team” who kept his house “spotlessly clean”, jurors at Inner London Crown Court were told.
The court heard the women – sometimes referred to as “the Lycra Lovelies” or “the Lycra Nuns” – were on a rota to help then-Reverend Brain get to bed, and this included performing sexual favours, a bishop was told by a whistleblower in 1995.
When Mr Brain was confronted at the time over claims he had abused up to 40 women, he replied: “I thought it was more,” the court heard. He resigned from holy orders in November that year.
Appearing in the dock wearing purple shirt on Tuesday, Mr Brain is accused of one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault relating to 13 women between 1981 and 1995.
Opening the prosecution’s case, Tim Clark KC said that the Church of England initially viewed NOS as a success story and Mr Brain was fast-tracked for ordination.
“In truth, NOS became a closed and controlled group which the defendant dominated and abused his position first as a leader and then as an ordained priest to sexually assault a staggering number of women from his congregation,” he told the jury.
Mr Clark said NOS became a cult in which members, who were vetted and organised into “discipleship” groups, were isolated from their friends and families.
“Members of NOS became utterly dependent on NOS and desperate for the attention and praise of the defendant,” he added. “They were encouraged to give up their time, finances and, eventually, their sense of self to this organisation and its leader.”
Mr Brain first became involved with St Thomas’ Church in Sheffield through his Christian rock band Present Tense. The 9pm NOS multimedia church services were described as “visually stunning” and featured live music aimed at a younger congregation.
By the time he took holy orders in December 1991, “signs of grandiose self-regard were already present” and large sums of money were spent finding the robes worn by the actor Robert De Niro in the movie The Mission for him to wear at his ordination, Mr Clark said.
Mr Brain would be surrounded by “beautiful women in heavy makeup wearing revealing clothes” as they managed his housekeeping and kept his home “spotlessly clean”, the jury were told.
Women were at times called to the priest’s attic bedroom to give him massages, the court heard.
One complainant who first joined the church as a teenager said she viewed Mr Brain as a “form of prophet” who told her their contact was part of her “sexual healing”.
“She found it impossible to leave, she made an effort one time but was talked out of it,” Mr Clark said. “She describes becoming severely depressed. She stated that she engaged in the sexual activity, or more precisely submitted to it occurring, in order to survive.”
Another woman said she “viewed him as almost a God”.
The prosecutor said Mr Brain would “suddenly appear” in the lives of female members of NOS, “often picking them up in his car whilst they were walking along”. Women who did not keep the defendant happy would find themselves estranged from the group, he added.
One female congregant, who believes she was “brainwashed” by the priest, alleges he invited her to his home while his wife was away in 1983 or 1984, where he pinned her down and raped her.
Content retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/reverend-chris-brain-sheffield-church-cult-b2780121.html.
