Members of an “anti-establishment cult” who stormed into a court with handcuffs have been found guilty of trying to kidnap a coroner.

Mark Christopher, 59, Matthew Martin, 47, Shiza Harper, 45, and Sean Harper, 38, wanted to “shut down” Essex Coroner’s Court and abduct senior coroner Lincoln Brookes in April 2023.

They were part of a “conspiracy theory” group who believed they could overrule the judicial system in England and Wales, a trial heard.

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Det Ch Insp Nathan Hutchinson said it had been an “intimidating and traumatising ordeal” for all involved.

“The ideologies of this group were concerning and they genuinely believed that they had the power to construct their own legal system, threaten others and were above English law,” he said.

The defendants were part of an online subscription-based movement called the Federal Postal Court, which had self-conferred legal powers, the trial heard.

Christopher, from Forest Gate, east London, was the chief judge, with Martin and Sean Harper his sheriffs and Shiza Harper a “postal inspector”.

Mr Walker said they had a “significant following” online and described the group as an “anti-establishment protest, cult or conspiracy theory”.

The defendants told the trial that Christopher, who sold online courses for thousands of pounds, was their “teacher” and they were his students – and that the allegations had been “blown way out of proportion”.

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The incident followed Mr Brookes being sent a series of letters between March 2022 and April 2023, accusing him of being a “detrimental necromancer” who must face corporal punishment.

“I thought this was odd, to say the least,” Mr Brookes said.