But what made Mitchell come the conclusion that as a freeman he was not bound by the law?

“The thing that got me more into this was when someone turned round and told me about birth certificates. You’re born into this world, you’re given a birth certificate, it’s got a code on it. You have this code all your life, and if you took that number into a stockbroker’s market he would tell you how much you’ve earned throughout your life and how much taxes you’ve earned.

“So basically they are banding you. And I don’t want to be banded. It’s like a bird being born. A bird doesn’t get told what to do, it just lives its life. That’s what I’m doing.”

This is common trope of freeman ideology: that what we think passes for identity is actually a construct. As freeman sites and forums would have it, your actual name and identity is a work of fiction created for the convenience of the state, which would like to control you. It’s only through this invented persona, the theory goes, that you can be made to follow man-made law. Hence why some freemen refer to themselves as “[first name] of the family [surname]” or add “commonly known as” to their titles, to point out the difference between their real and “fictional” names.

Mark McKenzie, 54, told Manchester magistrates’ court in May that he did not have to pay any council tax because he is a freeman who is “independent of government jurisdiction and holds the archaic belief that all statute law is contractual and therefore only applicable if an individual consents to it.”



He was sentenced to 40 days in prison and asked to pay the £7,000 in council tax he owes on his Moss Side house.

The same month, Oliver Pinnock, 36, a professional lightweight boxer from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, was sentenced to 25 days in prison for the same offence, and told to settle his £875.44 debt with Southend Council.

He tells BuzzFeed News that in fact does not identify as a freeman, although he does believe that he is not bound by laws that came after the Magna Carta (the Great Charter) in 1215.

"I discovered an article in the Telegraph from 2001 that quite clearly stated that article 61 of Magna Carta 1215 had been invoked under the correct protocols of British constitutional law," he says.

"The Queen was petitioned and made a reply. The more I looked at this, the more I realised we were illegally joined to the EU against our bill of rights and Magna Carta, which is a binding contract between sovereign peoples and the monarchy."

The charter was invoked before parliament was established, he says, therefore any man-made laws are in essence null and void.

Freemen base much of their ideology around Magna Carta, the treaty that was designed to make peace between King John and rebellious English nobles. Mythology has surrounded this charter for centuries and it has become a global symbol of individual liberty against despotism, even though almost all of its content has been repealed or annulled over time.

Article 61 of the charter is often cited as proof that English citizens can opt out of abiding by law by statute - although, as historians and sceptics have pointed out, this article was only in use for three months and specifically referred to curtailing the power of King John and 25 barons, not the general populace.

Though it is illegal to film or take photographs in court, YouTube has several videos showing freemen baffling magistrates and judges with their interpretation of ancient legal codes and their refusal to accept the authority of the court.