Former priest Chris Brain was found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women after a jury at Inner London Crown Court delivered its final verdicts on 21 August. The offences, committed between 1981 and 1995, involved female members of an evangelical congregation Brain led in Sheffield. Brain, 68, headed the Nine O’Clock Service, a nightclub-style worship movement that drew hundreds of young people at its peak and enjoyed the backing of senior Church of England figures. His ordination was fast-tracked in 1991, and the group’s prominence helped shield him from scrutiny for years. Prosecutors said Brain controlled congregants by cutting them off from family and friends and coercing a ‘homebase team’ of young women—nicknamed the “lycra nuns”—into providing sexual favours. He was tried on 36 indecent-assault charges and one count of rape. Jurors acquitted him of 15 assault counts and failed to reach verdicts on four further assaults and the rape allegation; the Crown Prosecution Service will decide whether to seek a retrial on those charges. Bishop of Sheffield Pete Wilcox described the case as “an appalling abuse of power” and issued an unreserved apology for institutional failings. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.