Former priest led movement with ‘extremely disturbing' services, court hears

South Wales Guardian

3 days ago

Christopher Brain, 68, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was leader of the the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), part of the Church of England, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995.
Brain denies one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995.
The prosecution allege NOS became a cult where Brain abused his position to sexually assault a 'staggering number' of women followers, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family.
Inner London Crown Court has heard a 'homebase team' was set up to 'care for' Brain – referred to as 'the Lycra Lovelies' or 'the Lycra Nuns' – with witnesses reporting seeing the defendant surrounded by attractive women in lingerie at his home looking after his needs.
Mark Stibbe was a curate of St Thomas's Church in Sheffield when NOS was holding services there.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said there was 'concern' about the direction NOS was taking and discussion about Brain and what was going on at his home.
He told the court: 'I remember one church administrator or finance officer at St Thomas's who was like an old school army man and he brought up the negative optics, potentially anyway, of scantily clad, lycra-wearing pretty young women as he put it coming to and from Chris Brain's house on a regular basis to perform 'domestic duties'.'
The witness said the man got a 'roasting' for asking whether there was 'anything untoward' about it and that others at St Thomas's felt that if the church's vicar, Robert Warren, was not going to intervene then junior clergy had no business doing so.
He said it did not appear to him that Reverend Warren was able to control Brain.
He also recalled there was 'a lot of controversy' over the Greenbelt Christian arts festival 'into which NOS had poured many hours and many thousands of pounds'.
Dr Stibbe moved to another church in 1993 but attended a NOS service once it had moved to a new location in Ponds Forge after a member of his congregation expressed concerns to him about it.
Of his visit, he said: 'My view at the time was that it was extremely disturbing and that my friend who had said it was disturbing was correct.
'The reason I found it disturbing is that the things that had been reported from the Greenbelt Festival about girls gyrating in scantily clad costume in a worship context, that is what I was seeing in this context.'
Asked if he thought the women were willing participants, he told jurors: 'This is the thing that concerns me. I couldn't tell.
'In a progressive culture… it seemed to me to be a graphic, vivid contradiction to have young women behaving in what looked like a controlled manner.'
Dr Stibbe said he wrote to the then Bishop of Sheffield to ask about oversight of NOS.
'It seemed to me that it had drifted so far away from being a Christian ritual and Christian service and there were elements of it that deeply disturbed me and I felt it was not properly accountable,' he said.
'I do remember saying to him that I felt that if he did not step in and discern what was truly going on in the congregation that there would be disaster within one year.'
Of the response, he said: 'Part of it was a reprimand or rebuke and the rebuke was that we did not conduct witch hunts in the diocese. So I really had my ecclesiastical wrists slapped.'
He added that he was told then archdeacon Stephen Lowe was overseeing NOS and that 'that should be enough for me'.
Earlier the court heard from Rev Warren who said allegations that emerged about Brain's abuse 'came as a total shock', although he admitted he had a sense of 'cult-like elements' emerging in NOS.
Asked while giving evidence over a video link to explain what kinds of behaviour he saw, he said: 'Just a sort of controlling of people and a focus on Chris Brain almost as a sort of guru.'
He added: 'I think it was a sense of deference to Chris Brain that if you asked people about the service they would always say, well what Chris thinks is or what Chris wants is.
'With the other services I wouldn't get that sort of response.'
The reverend said if NOS had continued to hold services at St Thomas's he expects that behaviour would have become clearer and he would have done something about it.
He told the court that NOS had 400 regular worshippers when it left St Thomas's and at one stage there was a mass confirmation service of 93 members of NOS – 'the largest group that we had ever confirmed in one church'.
He agreed that NOS was exciting and innovative for the Church of England and that it could engage young people in ways the church was until then failing to do, incorporating 'rave' culture and music as part of worship.
'Some people who were at that service would come from 20 or 30 miles away because they found the service so inspiring,' he said.
The witness also told jurors that NOS functioned independently financially from St Thomas's, and that NOS contributed to payments to Brain as a 'lay leader' and then as a priest once he was ordained.
Brain's personal tutor during his ordination training also gave evidence, telling jurors how she initially thought he was arrogant, how he was often absent and failed to consistently meet deadlines.
Marilyn Parry said she raised issues with senior tutors and the diocese but that they did not appear to share her view, adding: 'They felt he should be given some slack because he was running such an important ministry for the church.'
'Mr Brain was not having a normal curacy so he was being fast tracked through the process,' she said. 'I felt it was a mistake.'
The court heard it would normally take three to four years for someone to be ordained from the time they begin training at college but that Brain was ordained in one.
The witness also said she had difficulty getting in touch with him and would often find 'young women' answering his phone, telling of a particular conversation that 'worried' her when a young woman said Brain could not take her call because he was being massaged by another member of the team.
Former members of NOS also gave evidence, telling the court how Brain led a 'luxurious' lifestyle with a 'lavish' car, mobile phone and 'the best' clothes.
They also said there was an 'expectation' that followers should try to contribute 10% of their income to NOS.
The trial continues on Thursday.