A Church of England priest allegedly raped a worshipper and indecently assaulted other members of his congregation after "brainwashing" young women who joined what prosecutors described as a cult, a court has heard. Chris Brain, 69, led the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS) in Sheffield during the 1980s and 1990s, and is accused of exploiting his position as leader and later as an ordained priest to sexually abuse a "staggering number of women". The retrial, at Inner London Crown Court, follows an earlier trial last year in which he was convicted of a string of attacks on women, but jurors could not reach verdicts on five further offences now being reheard.

Prosecutor Tim Clark KC told jurors that NOS presented itself as a progressive force for good but became a "closed and controlled group" dominated by Brain, who set the rules and designed punishments while congregants feared ostracisation. Brain is alleged to have raped one woman at his home in the mid-1980s and sexually assaulted three others, with witnesses describing being groomed, isolated from family, and too terrified to challenge him. He denies rape and four counts of indecent assault relating to at least 15 alleged incidents involving four women, insisting any sexual activity was consensual, though the prosecution says he was once told the church believed he had abused up to 40 women and replied "I thought it was more."