Former vicar convicted for rape and sexual assaults connected to his nightclub ‘Nine O Clock service’

A former ordained Church of England priest has been found guilty of multiple counts of indecent assaults on nine women in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s.

Chris Brain, 68, has been found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault at Inner London Crown Court on 20 August 2025. He was cleared of a further 15 counts of the same offence. 

Brain became involved in a religious community in the 1980s of which he was considered a leader.

It was at this time that Brain used his position to assault females associated with the religious group.

Brain’s role evolved into leading religious services in a local church which was famously known as the Nine O Clock Service (NOS) due to the fact they were held at 9pm on Sundays.  These services were different from the usual Church of England services due to the musical and media visual aspect of the service which was particularly successful in attracting younger people to them.

International and national attention was drawn to these services to such an extent that Brain was fast tracked to become an ordained priest within the Church of England in 1991.

However, at the same time Brain was using his position and status to indecently assault other women who were recruited into NOS.

South Yorkshire Police first arrested the defendant in April 2021 after the force started to receive allegations about Brain in the previous year and was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in January 2024. 

The police investigation gathered evidence from interviews from victims and statements from witnesses in relation to allegations of non-consensual sexual acts with the defendant.

Julie Moss, Senior Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Chris Brain abused the trust and power he gained as a religious leader to sexually exploit and abuse young women. He instilled a culture of fear to subjugate and control NOS members into submission and to do his bidding.

“Brain discouraged members of the Nine O Clock service (NOS) from having any contact with family or friends outside of the NOS community to isolate members them and make them susceptible to his control.

“Brain set up a home base team in which he required female members of NOS to assist his household. This assistance included attending upon him in his bedroom before he went to sleep which is when many of the offences occurred. The victims were too scared of being excluded from the religious group to refuse. This became known as the ‘putting to bed ROTA’.

“Brain clearly engaged in controlling behaviour and is a narcissist who subjected his victims to awful and horrendous act of sexual violence. 

“We hope that these convictions help in some part to see justice delivered for the victims.

“We note that the jury could not reach a verdict on some counts, and we will carefully consider a retrial.”

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on four further counts of indecent assault and one count of rape. On 21 August 2025, the jury was discharged.