Priest who led Nine O’Clock Service movement to face 34 sexual abuse charges

The Reverend Christopher Brain led the movement called the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995.

Brain appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court for a four-minute hearing on Monday where he faced a total of 34 charges in relation to 11 women.

The charges relate to allegations of sexual offences committed against women who had joined the movement, the force said.

Brain, now 66, of Park Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, is charged with one count of rape and 33 counts of indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 1981 and 1995.

The Nine O’Clock Service was initially held at St Thomas’s Church, in the Crookes area of Sheffield, before moving to Ponds Forge sport complex in the city centre.