A former Church of England priest accused of raping and indecently assaulting members of his controversial 1980s and 1990s congregation has been compared to disgraced BBC broadcaster Jimmy Savile by a witness at his trial. Chris Brain, 69, led the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield, which grew from a small group seeking contemporary worship into a congregation of up to 600 people before allegations emerged that he abused women within an inner circle who idolised him. He has already been convicted of separate sexual offences against NOS members, and is now on trial at Inner London Crown Court accused of one count of rape and four counts of indecent assault against four further women, all of which he denies.

Witness Chris Essdale, a music producer who knew Brain before he became a priest, told jurors the Church of England treated him as its "golden boy" and likened the institution's protection of him to the way the BBC shielded Savile and how Jeffrey Epstein was enabled. Defence barrister Iain Simkin KC accused Essdale of using "artistic licence" for dramatic effect. A second witness, Sheffield headteacher Rachel Hurding, described how Brain surrounded himself with women nicknamed the "Lycra Lovelies", telling the court that "none of these women had a life apart from being part of Chris's inner circle," pressure the defence suggested reflected 1980s and 1990s beauty ideals rather than coercion.