A conspiracy theorist will be ordered to pay £45,000 in damages to two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing whom he claimed were ‘crisis actors’.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve were stood around five metres from Salman Abedi when he detonated his suicide vest at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
Martin, who shielded his daughter from most of the blast, was hit with 22 pieces of shrapnel, one of which permanently severed his spinal cord.
Eve was struck in the head with a bolt – causing injuries ‘almost like she had been shot through the head’, Martin previously told an inquest – and has been left with severe brain damage.
Richard Hall, who describes himself as a journalist, targeted the pair with outlandish accusations of taking part in an ‘elaborate hoax’ orchestrated by the government.
His actions went so far as ‘secretly filming’ Eve and her mum at their house and filming Eve outside her home, the High Court heard.
Hall published several ‘widely viewed’ videos and a book laying out his claims that the attack ‘did not happen’, also giving in-person lectures about it.
While his work was not mainly about the Hibberts, it claimed they had ‘repeatedly, publicly and egregiously lied to the public for monetary gain’, barristers for the pair told judges.
Hall falsely claimed Eve was already disabled before the bombing and that her parents were using her as part of a ‘huge fraud’ against the British public.
He also falsely claimed that Martin was faking his injuries, which have left him requiring a wheelchair for mobility.
Hall’s barrister claimed there was ‘no vindictiveness’ or ‘malice’ to his client’s actions and so £7,500 each in damages for Martin and Eve ‘would be appropriate’.
Jonathan Price, for the pair, said Hall’s behaviour was ‘towards the more oppressive end of the spectrum of harassing conduct’.
Last month Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in favour of the Hibberts and branded Hall’s behaviour a ‘negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom’.
At a hearing on Friday, the judge said Martin and his daughter would each be awarded £22,500 in damages.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
