'Cult' priest denies sexually assaulting women

A priest has denied sexually assaulting women in a "cult" within the Church of England, telling a court there was "nothing wrong" with members of his congregation giving him massages in his bedroom.

Chris Brain, 69, accepted he had sexual contact with some members of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), a group which he led in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s, but insisted this was always consensual.

The former musician has already been convicted of sexual offences against "numerous" women, a jury at Inner London Crown Court has been told.

Brain, of Wilmslow in Cheshire, is being retried on a charge of rape and four counts of indecent assault after jurors last year were unable to reach verdicts.

He led NOS - described in court as a "groundbreaking" church service incorporating live music, "stunning" visuals and progressive theology - between 1986 and 1995.

The group began at St Thomas Church in Crookes and swelled in popularity to attract hundreds of people to its services, eventually moving to a new base at Ponds Forge before imploding amid allegations about Brain's conduct.

Prosecutors have accused Brain of "purposely creating a cult" in which he abused young women who had become emotionally dependent on his approval.

Some of Brain's alleged victims had been assigned to a "homebase team" which looked after the priest, his wife and their young daughter and would be called to give him massages in his home, the court has heard.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Brain said the women had been "close friends" who "would want to give me a massage" when he arrived home late and this had become sexual only "very, very rarely".

"It helped me with back tension and it was a way to meet people," he told the court. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Brain told the court he had consensual sexual contact with two of his accusers, including the alleged rape victim, and no sexual contact at all with the other two women.

He continues to deny his guilt in relation to the crimes of which he was convicted last year.

Asked by his barrister Iain Simkin KC whether "as a priest you should have been sexually touching people," Brain replied: "It depends on what context. It depends on what kind of priest you are, what's happening in your life."

Brain, who was ordained as a priest by the Church of England in 1991, acknowledged he could be seen as a "hypocrite" for having sex with women in his congregation.

Tim Clark KC, prosecuting, said young women who were drawn into NOS had endured a process of "isolation, disorientation and unhealthy dependence, all designed by you to feed your ego and allow you to abuse young women".

He described Brain's leadership of NOS as a "dictatorship".

Brain said this was "nonsense", adding: "I was never playing the cult game, making people dependent and then pushing them away."

He accepted he would criticise young female members of NOS for their attitudes towards sexuality, but claimed this had been a "post-modern" approach to encourage them to be more assertive.

"This kind of thinking had a profound effect on the development of the third wave of feminism and I regret none of it," Brain said.

The trial continues.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North