Four members of a ‘cult’ stormed Essex Coroner’s Court, attempted to ‘condemn’ the building and tried to kidnap the senior coroner, a court heard.
Three men and a woman have denied the attempted kidnap and false imprisonment of Senior Coroner Lincoln Brookes at the Chelmsford-based court in April last year.
Mr Brookes said he feared for the safety of his family when group of people accused of a plot to kidnap him turned up at court looking for him.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Mark Kishon Christopher, 58, of Claremont Road, London, was the leader of a group called ‘Federal Postal Court’, which rejects the authority of the UK government and all relevant administrations.
A jury heard Christopher had broadcast on the social media website Rumble on April 17, 2023, ‘inciting’ his followers to storm and ‘condemn’ the coroners’ court in Essex.
Christopher, along with Matthew Dean Martin, 48, of Dennington Road, London, Sean Andrew Dudley Harper, 38, of Benfleet Park Road, Benfleet, and Shiza Harper, 45, also of Benfleet Park Road, all deny conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment and sending letters to cause distress.
Additionally, Martin denies assault by beating and criminal damage in relation to an incident with a security guard on April 20 at coroners court which resulted in his glasses being broken.
A coroner is appointed by the state to oversee inquests which take place to examine the deaths of members of the public if so required, determining who the person was, and when, where and how they died.
Prosecuting, Allistar Walker said: ‘Mark was the self-appointed leader and chief judge of England all members of the group called ‘Federal Postal Court’, or ‘Court of the People’.
Mr Walker described the movement as having a ‘significant following’ online and that it was an ‘anti-establishment protest, cult or conspiracy theory’.
It claims to have jurisdiction over all courts and corporations. The group was created by a man now deceased but now controlled by Mark.
The requirement of members to the group is through an online subscription to ‘alleviate [their] mortgage and debts.’ Mr Walker said Mark Christopher wanted to ‘show fraud’ in the world, with members being offered training and a ‘university course’, with people being able to transfer funds to them online.
Mr Walker said during interviews Sean and Shiza Harper claimed to be ‘students’ of Christopher, with Sean Harper and Matthew Martin obtaining the rank of ‘Sheriff’ and Shiza ‘postal inspector’.
The jury heard the group were devoted to trying to shut down official buildings such as courts, with the group targeting Essex Coroners’ Court in Chelmsford and Southend County Court, with the express wish to detain and take Coroner Brookes to Chelmsford Police Station, with Mark Christopher claiming the coroners court was carrying out ‘detrimental necromancy’.
Lincoln Brookes, senior coroner for Essex, said he received a series of ‘very bizarre’ letters in 2022 before receiving emails in April 2023 stating that ‘corporal punishment may be administered’.
He described the emails, which claimed to be warrants ‘for seizure of goods and persons’, as ‘troubling’ and ‘upsetting’.
The coroner said he ‘felt this was a security threat to my safety’ and later contacted police, but said he was told the ‘risk was low’.
He said there was a further ‘ominous’ email on April 19 last year, before people turned up looking for him the following day – on April 20.
He said he had not been at the coroner’s court in Chelmsford that morning, having accompanied a family member to a hospital appointment, but was due to attend the court to preside over an inquest that afternoon.
Mr Brookes said he was warned not to come to the building and was told ‘these are the people from the letter – they’re coming to get you’.
‘I turned around and started driving home as fast as I could as I was fearful for the safety of my family,’ he said.
The coroner said he ‘pulled over as I was upset’.
Mr Brookes told the trial he received half a dozen letters between March and September 2022, describing them as ‘gibberish’.
Asked if it caused him ‘more alarm’ than the previous correspondence, he said: ‘Yes, a lot more.’
He said the ‘first thing I did was start Googling actually’ and he found a website for Mark Kishon Christopher – who was named in the correspondence – which he said ‘seemed like goggledegook again’.
Christopher also denies sending threatening letters to Mr Brookes with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
Mr Walker continued: ‘He [Christopher] broadcast to his followers on the social media called Rumble three days before they entered the coroners’ court. He called on his followers with him to shut down the coroners’ court and administer corporal punishment if needs be.
‘The four members went in person intending to detain and take away the coroner. In other words, pursuant to an agreement between them to seize him, move him and detain him.’
Mr Walker said the defendants were ‘serious’ in their actions and the prosecution ‘takes them seriously as well’. He said the court staff, including Coroner Brookes and Michelle Brown, were left ‘distressed’ by the actions.
On April 20, 2023, the four defendants attended Seax House just before lunchtime and walked into courtroom two, where the deputy coroner Michelle Brown was overseeing an inquest.
Christopher approached Coroner Brown and ‘demanded’ to see Coroner Brookes. Mr Walker said Shiza Brown then served a ‘notice’ on the coroner to shut the court down, which contained a ‘glossary of anti-establishment terms’ with another document ‘explicitly condemning’ Coroner Lincoln Brookes.
Matthew Martin filmed the encounter, with footage played to the jury showing Christopher ordering coroners’ court staff ‘not to interfere with my sheriffs’. Christopher could also be heard saying the court was practising ‘detrimental necromancy’ and that people were ‘not dead on paper’.
Coroner Brown can be heard in the footage asking the defendants ‘not to resort to violence’, before further security arrive.
Mr Walker said Martin was arrested at the scene while the other three defendants were arrested at Southend County Court later the same day, where they had also attempted to ‘condemn’ the court building.
The jury was also told the defendants had brought handcuffs with them, although they were never used and they never saw Coroner Brookes.
The jury was told Sean Harper had sent messages prior to the incident saying that Mark Christopher ‘wants someone in cuffs today so we will see mate’.
The trial continues.