‘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.

Mark Christopher, 59, led the group that 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 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, usually defined as one that believes its interpretation of law supersedes a state’s legal system.

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

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

Christopher was the group’s “chief judge”, with Martin and Sean Harper as his “sheriffs”.

Shiza Harper, a former special constable with the Metropolitan Police, held a “postal inspector” role.

The group had “many followers across the country and the world” who held “delusional beliefs”, the court was told.

They were sold online courses for thousands of pounds by Christopher, who acted as the group’s “teacher”.

Addressing Christopher, Mr Justice Goss said: “I am satisfied that you are intelligent, persuasive, manipulative and dishonest.

“Your group, of which you are the self-appointed leader, preys on the vulnerabilities of others, particularly those in financial difficulties, who you are able to persuade to pay you significant sums of money and to do your bidding.

“You clearly recruited your co-defendants to your ideology [and] took a considerable amount of money from Sean and Shiza Harper.”

The court heard Christopher sent Mr Brookes a series of letters between March 2022 and April 2023, accusing him of being a “detrimental necromancer” who must face corporal punishment, including beating with cattle prods.

Another letter said: “Mark Christopher will seek the death sentence for damage and for insidious conduct delivered at the court by the coroner”.

Reading a victim impact statement, area coroner Michelle Brown said her life had “changed forever” as a result of the incident.

“I was extremely scared and feared for my safety,” said Ms Brown, who was chairing an inquest when the defendants stormed in.

The group served a series of documents purporting to be warrants in the court room and then left, being arrested later that day.

Narita Bahra KC, representing the Harpers, from South Benfleet, Essex, said they were in Christopher’s “thrall” due to “the level of control and dominance he had”.

She claimed they had been “on a trajectory of awakening” since the trial.

They were “pressured” to pay more than £30,000 to take part in online courses ran by Christopher, including a “mortgage elimination” scheme, Ms Bahra said.

“The pernicious veil of the first defendant has impacted every aspect of Mr and Mrs Harper’s life,” Ms Bahra said.

In his mitigation, Martin, from Plaistow, east London, claimed to have been acting with King Charles III’s approval to tackle “state child trafficking” on Christopher’s behalf.

He said he “feels very sorry” for Mr Brookes and Ms Brown regarding the impact his offending had on them.

Christopher, who remained silent throughout the trial, declined to give evidence.

Det Ch Insp Nathan Hutchinson, of Essex Police, told BBC News that Christopher was a cult leader and a “radicaliser”.

“He’s very good at manipulating people – people with debts, people with problems have come to him; they’ve signed up to his online courses and believed everything he was doing was legal,” he said.

“He’s recruited people, normally unknown to him, and that has resulted in them committing a very serious criminal offence.”