Sheffield Priest Accused of Abuse Sparks Concerns

NOS was initially lauded by Church of England leaders for attracting hundreds of young people to its congregation with nightclub-style evangelical services in Sheffield featuring live music, progressive theology and multimedia. But it collapsed in acrimony in 1995 amid allegations Mr Brain, now of Park Road in Wilmslow, Cheshire, had abused members of his congregation, including women who were expected to clean his house and 'put him to bed' with 'sexual favours', prosecutors have told the jury.

Giving evidence on the second day of the trial, Dr Stibbe said he had written to Bishop Lunn after attending a NOS service at Ponds Forge sports complex in Sheffield, where the group had relocated in 1993 due to its growing popularity. Dr Stibbe, who was vicar at a different Sheffield church by this time, added: 'There were elements of it that deeply disturbed me and I felt it wasn't properly accountable. I remember stating to him that if he didn't step in and truly discern what was going on in the community there would be disaster in one year.'

Bishop Lunn responded with 'a reprimand, a rebuke' saying 'we don't conduct witch hunts in the diocese', Dr Stibbe told the court. 'So I really had my ecclesiastical wrists slapped,' he added.

Dr Stibbe said concerns had also been raised about NOS in a 1992 staff meeting at St Thomas in which a colleague highlighted the 'negative optics' of 'scantily clad Lycra-wearing pretty young women, as he put it, coming to and from Mr Brain's house on a regular basis to perform domestic duties'. He said the man, a financial administrator, 'got a roasting' for asking if there was 'anything untoward' going on.

Dr Stibbe said church staff took the view that if Robert Warren, the church's canon who had oversight of NOS, was not going to intervene 'then we had no business doing so'.

According to the source: BBC.