Manchester Arena survivors awarded £45,000 for harassment in ‘message to conspiracy theorists’

An ex-television producer has been ordered to pay two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing £45,000 in damages after claiming it was staged by the government, in a civil ruling one of the victors said would “send a message to conspiracy theorists.” High Court judge Karen Steyn awarded Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve £22,500 each on Friday after last month winning a harrassent case against Richard Hill, who claimed the pair were “crisis actors” in a state-orchestrated hoax. Both survivors suffered life-changing injuries at the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives, killing 22 people and injuring many others, with Mr Hibbert left with a spinal cord injury and Miss Hibbert facing severe brain damage. Mr Hall published several videos and a book containing allegations that the attack was staged, and that people who had died were living overseas or were already dead before the attack. The father and daughter sued Mr Hall over his conduct, which included filming Eve Hibbert outside her home. But Mr Hall claimed his actions were in the public interest and told a High Court trial that “millions of people have bought a lie” about the attack. He told...

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