Nine O'Clock Service founder Chris Brain, a former Church of England priest, convicted of rape at retrial

A jury at Inner London Crown Court on Friday, Oct. 2, found Chris Brain, 69, a former Church of England priest, guilty of one count of rape and four counts of indecent assault. Brain founded and led the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), a movement in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s that combined rave culture with Christian worship. The verdicts came at a retrial on five counts that the jury at his first trial could not decide. In August 2025 that jury convicted him of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women. He now stands convicted of 22 offences against 13 women, The Independent reported.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Brain used his position of spiritual authority to control and isolate women who had become dependent on his approval. Julie Moss, senior crown prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire & Humberside, said: "This was not consent. It was forced submission, caused by the culture of fear and dependency Brain had deliberately created." Detective Superintendent Eleanor Welsh of South Yorkshire Police paid tribute to the women, who she said "have waited three or four decades for these verdicts."

Brain denied the allegations throughout both trials, the CPS said. He insisted that NOS was not a cult and that members were free to come and go. He accepted sexual contact with some witnesses but maintained it was always consensual. He resigned as a priest in 1995, when the allegations first surfaced. Brain was remanded in custody, and Judge Freya Newbury said victims would be able to give impact statements at a sentencing hearing likely to last two days, The Independent reported. The BBC said sentencing is expected later this year and that he has been told he faces a custodial term.

The Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt. Rev. Pete Wilcox, said his first thoughts were with the women, who "have now given evidence, in full, not once but twice." He said the apology he offered last year "stands in full." He said the independent Safeguarding Practice Review he commissioned into how the Church responded at the time had been delayed so as not to affect the retrial and "will now begin."