Christopher: Led plot
Photo: Essex Police
The leader of a plot based on pseudo-legal ideas to kidnap the Senior Coroner for Essex has been jailed for seven years, and the three people who helped him for two and a half years each.
Mr Justice James Goss at Chelmsford Crown Court described Mark Kishon Christopher as “intelligent, persuasive, manipulative and dishonest” in his role as “self-appointed leader” of a group which “preys on the vulnerabilities of others, particularly those in financial difficulties”.
According to Essex Police, he led an “organised pseudo legal commercial argument group” called the Federal Postal Court Judges – Mr Christopher went by the title of ‘Chief Judge of England and all Dominions’.
Matthew Dean Martin had the title of sheriff of the Federal Postal Court and coroner, Sean Harper was another sheriff and Shiza Harper was a ‘postal inspector’.
Goss J said the three regarded Mr Christopher as a judge and their instructor and remained “committed to him and his status, his powers and his court for the people”.
The police explained: “Groups such as these, similar to Sovereign Citizen movements, do not respect the law of the land and see themselves as a ‘court of the people’ who claim extraordinary authority. Such groups have rules that mimic the structure and language of ‘conventional’ law.
“This ‘pseudo law’ superficially appears to be law, but uses unusual language, seals, and letter to confuse recipients. This particular group also believed that they have power of arrest and previously discussed corporal punishment.”
They were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnap and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment in July this year, with Mr Christoper convicted of the additional offence of sending a letter or email with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
The four of them entered Seax House in Chelmsford – where the Essex coronial service is based – in April last year. Wearing high-visibility jackets and body worn cameras, and carrying handcuffs, they demanded to know where Senior Coroner Lincoln Brookes was, saying they wanted to speak with him and that the court had been shut down.
Mr Brookes, a barrister, was not in the building at the time and an alarm was raised, but those in the building were held inside by the group, who threatened them, claiming to know where they lived.
The group entered the courtroom of area coroner Michelle Brown in April last year, who the judge said “realised who you were, and was very afraid of what you were going to do”. She asked them several times to leave but they ignored her and kept asking for Mr Brookes.
Mr Martin was arrested at the court, while the others left the scene and headed to Southend County Court, where they were arrested.
Former Crown prosecutor Ms Brown, in a victim personal statement which she read to the court, said she remained “constantly concerned and anxious, suffers from sleep deprivation, does not feel safe in her home and when she goes out, and is hyper vigilant of her surroundings”.
The judge went on: “She has minimised her social activities and gets very withdrawn. There has been a significant impact on her work as a coroner; there was no means of exit from the courtroom or immediate security.
“It was, she said, an offence committed by an organised group and will impact her for the rest of her life.”
Mr Brookes said in his victim statement that he “underwent trauma therapy, has become hypervigilant, has flashbacks of events at that time and anxiety attacks, was very fearful for his family, regularly has nightmares and disturbed sleep and he fears being attacked”.
Goss J said: “Considerable fear was caused to the victims of all your actions on that day.
“In addition, I regard the fact that the intention to was take the Senior Coroner from his court, if necessary by force and the use of handcuffs in the purported exercise of non-existent powers, and endeavouring to close down a court and thereby undermining lawful authority and the rule of law as a very serious feature of the conspiracy.”
Goss J said Mr Christoper had “converted” the co-defendants to his beliefs and to do as he directed them and sent “threatening emails and letters” to Mr Brookes for a year before the incident in April 2023.
Mr Christopher was sentenced to seven years for the conspiracy offences, plus 18 months for the offence of sending malicious communications, to run concurrently.
Mr Martin and Mr and Ms Harper were sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit kidnap and a further 30 months, to run concurrently, for conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.
The judge ordered that Mr Christopher be released from custody no later than two-thirds of the way through his sentence, and the other three no more than half-way through.
He also issued restraining orders against Mr Christopher and Mr Martin, which stipulate that they cannot have any contact with the victims and cannot enter any courthouse in England and Wales without prior appointment.
Detective Chief Inspector Nathan Hutchinson of Essex Police added: “Whilst we appreciate freedom of opinion, this group’s ideologies are nothing more than nonsensical intimidation and oppression with no regard for the law.”
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