Christopher Brain led the progressive Nine O-Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield during the 1980s and 1990s and attracted hundreds to rave-style evangelical services. He surrounded himself with a homebase team of women who wore lingerie or revealing clothes and kept his house spotlessly clean, sometimes called the Lycra Lovelies or Lycra Nuns. Members were on rotas to cater to his every need; some gave him sensual massages he claimed relieved tension headaches. He was charged with one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault relating to 13 women from 1981 to 1995. Jurors found him guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women and acquitted him of 15 other counts; deliberation continues on remaining charges.
The trial heard the women sometimes referred to as the Lycra Lovelies or the Lycra Nuns were on a rota to help then-Reverend Brain with his every need. Some gave him sensual massages which he told the jury were to relieve tension headaches. He was charged with one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault relating to 13 women between 1981 and 1995. On Wednesday, jurors at Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women.
The seven-week trial heard how Brain, 68, was praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury after his club culture inspired services at St Thomas' Church in Crookes, Sheffield, and later Ponds Forge leisure centre, drew hundreds of young congregants. He was fast tracked for Holy Orders as the movement took off, but it collapsed in controversy in 1995 after women alleged their charismatic leader had been sexually assaulting them, in some cases claiming he was helping to heal their sexual repression.
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