Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom (tried at Inner London Crown Court) · 2025

United Kingdom: leader of the Church of England's 'Nine O'Clock Service' convicted of indecent assaults on nine women

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

ordained Church of England priest; founder/leader, the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS)

Organization

Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), Sheffield, Church of England

Spiritual nexus

Brain, an ordained Church of England priest, founded and led the Nine O'Clock Service, an unconventional nightclub-style congregation in Sheffield that gave him singular spiritual authority over a self-contained community of young worshippers, which he used to indecently assault nine women over more than a decade.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2025-08-20 · conviction

    Inner London Crown Court, England. Found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women committed in Sheffield in the 1980s-90s (acquitted on 15 further counts); jury discharged 2025-08-21. Sentencing date not yet reported in available sources.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • founded and led an experimental church service that functioned as a closed, self-contained community
  • position as spiritual leader of NOS used to select and isolate victims from among his own congregation

Primary record

Sources

official prosecutorial record criminal disposition and nexus Crown Prosecution Service, 'Former vicar convicted for sexual assaults connected to his nightclub "Nine O Clock service".'

CPS release confirming the Inner London Crown Court conviction on 17 counts, the NOS context, and the Sheffield location of the offending.

Related record

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