SCANTILY-clad young people danced to the beat as lasers of light swept the room, before a figure in white robes took to the stage.
But this was no rave and the man behind the half-moon desk was no DJ – instead he was a sexual predator hiding in plain sight, with depraved desires that left me sickened to my core.
BBCChristopher Brain attracted a young following with his church ‘raves’[/caption]
Hundreds of young people were held in thrall of the alternative priestPA
Inside one of Brain’s Nine O’Clock Servicesshutterstock
These club-like congregations were a weekly scene at Ponds Forge leisure centre in Sheffield city centre, where hundreds of young people were held in thrall of alternative priest Chris Brain.
Against a back-drop of deafening music, a huge screen flashed images of fire, planets and orb-like structures while a booming voice warned of the destruction of the planet.
Embraced by a church desperate for a new generation of followers, Brain was seen as a modern-day saviour of religion.
But behind the scenes he used his power to sexually abuse women he groomed through God – most of whom waited on him hand and foot at his home in the city.
Brain, 68, recruited a team of women who became known as the ‘lycra lovelies’ and ‘lycra nuns’ to help look after him, wife Winnie and their young daughter.
This week he was convicted of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women, after the court heard he “abused his position as a leader and then as an ordained priest to sexually assault a staggering number of women from his congregation”.
He was cleared of another 15 charges of indecent assault, while jurors failed to reach a decision on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape.
It was early 1994 when I attended one of Brain’s ‘planetary masses’ after my friend begged me to go along. I wasn’t particularly religious but I was a clubber and was curious to see what the fuss was about.
Brain cut a commanding figure as he preached about how humans were destroying the planet before handing his sermon over to a female Nine O’Clock service member.
It was a bizarre experience and my friend and I never returned, but there was no denying the charismatic nature of Brain – or the sway he held over his congregation.
Obsessed with tantric sex
BBCThe rave-like services were dubbed ‘God’s acid house’[/caption]
Brain was suspended by the church amid allegations of sexual abuseYou Tube
The following August, working as a journalist at the Sheffield Star, I got a tip-off that Brain had been suspended by the church amid allegations of sexual abuse.
I wasn’t shocked. What did shock me was the willingness of the Church of England, who had boosted Brain and fast-tracked him to priesthood, to confess all.
The service had previously been based at another church in Sheffield and, after asking around, there were clear questions about Brain’s conduct; how he expected members to give up their past lives, how he was obsessed with the notion of tantric sex and how he claimed to have had visions from God.
At his home in a leafy suburb, neighbours reported seeing pretty young women constantly coming and going. On one occasion, one girl left so distressed that a neighbour asked her what was wrong – only for her to run off crying.
There were stories of ‘hands-on healing sessions’ and ‘massages’ as Brain ‘explored’ sexuality.
Something had gone very, very wrong – and in plain sight of religious leaders.
When I contacted the church to ask about sexual abuse it was clear they were already prepared for the story to explode. A ready-made statement said Brain had been suspended amid allegations involving at least 20 women.
It was a sordid tale that stunned the city. National headlines about the rock ‘n’ roll vicar who ran ‘God’s acid house’ soon followed.
I was still a fairly inexperienced journalist back then, but a few followers took me into their trust to give me the inside track.
Bedtime rota
A court drawing of Brain at Inner London Crown CourtElizabeth Cook
PAChris Brain leaving Sheffield Crown Court during his trial[/caption]
Brain’s modus operandi was one often used by abusers. He singled women out, made them feel special, spending time with them to talk about religion or taking them for meals.
Once he’d lured them into his web, he turned his back on them, ignoring them or putting them down in front of others.
They were left mystified, worried about how they had offended their dynamic leader – leaving them susceptible to his charms when he decided to shower them with affection again.
The duties of Brain’s ‘homebase’ team – who tended to his family’s needs – included cleaning, cooking, babysitting and ‘putting Chris to bed’, giving him a massage to ‘relax him’.
Asked in court why he started receiving massages from his followers when he had a wife and child, he replied: “Why not?”
The women were put on a rota for this bedtime duty, which the court heard involved ‘sexual favours’.
One member would later tell a BBC documentary how Brain asked her, “What are you wearing beneath your cassock?” at a mass baptism led by a bishop.
De Niro deacon
Brain would belittle anyone who crossed him, worshippers claimed
AlamyBrain wanted a cassock worn by Robert De Niro in The Mission[/caption]
Most victims were too ashamed to speak. They had put their trust in a man they believed God had blessed – they wrongly felt foolish, used and very confused.
NOS members told me they felt let down by the Church of England’s response. Many were so damaged it would take until 2021 to make their complaints to police.
Brain told them he was exploring ways they could be sexual without penetration or ‘lust’ or being unfaithful to their partners.
During the court case prosecutor Tim Clark said his victims had become isolated from family as the group became more like a cult.
“Any capacity they had to consent had been removed by the domineering nature of the defendant, by his control over their entire lives and by their absolute terror of being ostracised and that’s what he intended,” he said.
As he grew more confident, Brain ran the service with an iron fist, demanding members spend more and more hours working on his techno-type rave presentations.
Worshippers told me Brain had a terrible temper and would often belittle those he felt had crossed him. Those who challenged his leadership – and at least two complained to Church of England bosses – were pushed out.
Meanwhile, the Church of England was enthralled by Brain. He was fast-tracked to the priesthood in two years, instead of four, as his congregation grew to over 400.
When he was ordained as deacon, Brain insisted on wearing the cassock Robert De Niro wore in the movie, The Mission.
When a replica couldn’t be found, the leadership team bought the original from Paramount Studios – at vast expense.
The vanishing
Grace’s newspaper article about Brain, the sex scandal vicar
When news of Brain’s abuse broke, he fled to his £200,000 farmhouse in the Pennines where reporters, including myself, spent days waiting for answers.
The property was owned by two church members and refurbished to suit Brain with state-of-the art TVs and fitted sound systems. A recording and rehearsal studio was even built in the grounds.
But there was no sign of Brain. Instead, the Church had sent him to a private psychiatric unit just outside Manchester where he received treatment before vanishing.
He gave just one TV interview in which he said: “I did get gratification. The gratification I got was actually not sexual.
“If there was any agenda for myself there…it was in the area of closeness and affection and friendship.”
But one service leader summed up the mood when she said his language covered up what was really going on – “one bloke getting his rocks off.”
As the victim’s finally get justice – three decades after the abuse – serious questions remain about why Brain was made a priest so quickly, why it took 30 years to bring him to court and how he was able to operate under the full gaze of the Church.
The Church of England has promised a review.
In a statement, Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, said: “What happened was an appalling abuse of power and leadership that should never have occurred.
“Where concerns were raised in the past and were not acted upon properly, that was a failing of the church. For those institutional failures I offer an unreserved apology.”
He said he was deeply sorry for the harm that those assaulted by Brain had suffered, adding that the church was “committed to supporting those affected”.
How the verdict will impact the Anglican Church
The Church of England could face massive pay-outs in the light of the Nine O’Clock Service scandal.
Chris Brain’s victims could be awarded huge payouts if they can prove the Church failed to protect them after fast-tracking his ordination.
A legal source told The Sun: “The question is whether the Church could have done more to safeguard victims and whether this was actually a cult within the Church.”
Hayley Chapman-Todd, a senior solicitor at Bolt Burdon Kemp who handles religious claims, said: “Chris Brain’s grooming and sexual assaults on women amounted to serious sexual and spiritual abuse.
“It is thanks to the bravery of the women involved that the guilty verdict was possible.
“The trial has shown that the Church of England still has serious questions to answer. Why were the red flags and concerns about Brain ignored, even at the highest levels? And why – when the allegations came to light in 1995 – has it taken so long to bring him to justice?
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