‘Cult’ members jailed over Chelmsford coroner kidnap plot

Members of an “anti-establishment cult” have been jailed for up to seven years for storming a court with handcuffs and trying to kidnap a coroner.

Conspiracy theorist Mark Christopher, 59, tried to shut down Essex Coroner’s Court in Chelmsford having accused senior coroner Lincoln Brookes of “interfering with the dead” in April 2023.

Matthew Martin, 47, Sean Harper, 38, and his wife Shiza, 45, were part of the group and believed they could overrule the UK judicial system.

All four were sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court having been convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.

Christopher, of Claremont Road, Forest Gate, east London was also found guilty of sending a letter or email with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

He was jailed for seven years, while Sean and Shiza Harper, of Benfleet Park Road, South Benfleet in Essex, and Martin, of Evelyn Denington Road, Plaistow in east London, were given 30-month sentences.

Mr Justice Goss said the defendants were part of an “anti-establishment cult” who relied on “non-existent powers” to further their aims.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Brookes said he was “haunted” by the incident which had left him undergoing trauma therapy.

It was only “by chance” that a last-minute family matter had delayed his arrival at the court, in Seax House in Chelmsford city centre, on 20 April 2023.

Mr Brookes was driving to work when his colleague, Michelle Brown, said a group had entered the court during an inquest hearing and demanded to speak with him.

“I had to pull over as I was so upset about the incident and thought it was unsafe to continue driving,” he said in the statement.

“I frequently have nightmares about the incident and them attacking me at my home.

“I can never feel fully safe in my house or out and about with my wife.”

The defendants were part of what law agencies called an organised pseudolegal commercial arguments (OPCA) group.

The group itself was called the Federal Postal Court, also known as the Court of the People.

Members had self-conferred legal powers derived from what they believed to be the “true meanings” of words, the court heard.