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, from 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 the other three defendants, from South Benfleet in Essex and Plaistow in east London, were given 30-month sentences.
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 work at the court in Seax House in Chelmsford city centre on 20 April 2023.
