A FORMER priest who led a “cult-like” church group has been found guilty of sexually abusing women he branded “Lycra Nuns”.
Chris Brain, 68, abused his position as head of the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS) to allegedly target a “staggering number of women”.
PAChris Brain abused female members of his cult-like church group[/caption]
The organisation targeted 18 to 30 years by using rave music and club culture to persuade them to sign up in the 1980s and 1990s.
Brain then created a “homebase” team of “attractive women” that served him, his wife and his daughter at their home in Sheffield.
He called them the “the Lycra Lovelies” or “the Lycra Nuns” after they were forced to wear lingerie and other revealing clothing.
Brain has now been convicted 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.
Jurors are still deliberating on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape.
Brain was cleared of a further 15 charges of indecent assault.
Jurors heard the NOS services, which took place at 9pm on Sundays, featured multimedia, scantily dressed women and a live band.
They attracted 600 people at their peak and were led by Brain, who wore the same cassock sported by actor Robert De Niro in the movie “The Mission”.
The court heard Brain’s Church of England ordination was “fast tracked” in 1991.
Some members donated large sums of money or gave up their inheritances or homes to NOS.
But behind the scenes, Brain would groom his victims, force them to give him massages and re-enacted a film scene involving sexual abuse, it was said.
He would also control the women by ostracising them from friends and family, make them wear the same clothing and lose weight.
Brain, who had led a Christian rock band called Present Tense, used his power to turn the group into a “cult”.
Prosecutor Tim Clark KC said: “In truth, NOS became a closed and controlled group which the defendant dominated and abused his position first as the leader and then as an ordained priest to sexually assault a staggering number of women from his congregation.”
Concerns were raised about Brain’s activities away from the church – including by one official who spoke about “scantily clad, lycra-wearing pretty young women” going to-and from the fiend’s home.
The man said they would go on a “regular basis” to perform “domestic duties” but was given a “roasting” for raising the issue.
One “founder member” of the “homebase” team, who said she viewed Brain as “a form of prophet”, told how up to five Lycra Nuns at a time would keep his home spotlessly clean.
Another victim described Brain as a “predator hiding in plain sight”, who “would pick off women who he viewed as vulnerable”.
Brain accepted engaging in sexual activity with some of the women but maintained it was consensual.
But Mr Clark said any capacity the victims had to say no was removed by the “cult-like domineering nature” of Brain’s control over them.
He added: “He was the central figure in a cult, he decided the rules, he designed the punishments.
“The defendant knew, as perhaps no one else in NOS knew, that these women feared ostracisation more than anything.”
In his evidence, Brain denied he was an “egomaniac” who wanted to “demonstrate power and control”.
He claimed the clothes worn by his homebase team were “completely normal” for that era and compared the outfits to those worn by Brit music group Soul II Soul.
Brain also admitted massages from some NOS members but told jurors it was to relieve his tension headaches.
The court heard he resigned from holy orders after allegations first emerged in the mid-1990s.
The jury will to return to court tomorrow to continue their deliberations.
PABrain controlled his victims and isolated them from friends and family[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
