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 the London court in a three-and-a-half-day trial in July: “The primary evidence shows there was no bomb in that room that exploded.”
But Jonathan Price, for the Hibberts, said during the trial the pair were some of the closest to terrorist Salman Abedi when he detonated the bomb and that the attack changed Mr Hibbert’s life “in every conceivable way”.
“They have both suffered life-changing injuries from which they will never recover,” the barrister said.
In finding for the father and daughter on October 23, Justice Steyn described Mr Hall’s behaviour as “a negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom”. During Friday’s hearing she described the father and daughter as “both vulnerable”.
In calling for the court to award £75,000 to the pair, Mr Price said Mr Hall’s behaviour was “towards the more oppressive end of the spectrum of harassing conduct”.
Paul Oakley, for Mr Hall, argued that £7,500 each was appropriate.
In awarding the pair £45,000 Justice Steyn ruled out awarding aggravated damages after hearing some of Mr Hall’s theories about the bombing during the trial. “The defendant’s narrative is preposterous … but I accept, having heard his evidence, he has convinced himself it is true,” she said.
Mr Hall was also ordered to pay 90 per cent of the Hibberts’ legal costs, with a final figure yet to be determined. Martin Hibbert and his daughter were also granted an injunction preventing further harassment.
Mr Hibbert said outside court on Friday he was pleased with the ruling.
“It sends out a message to conspiracy theorists that you cannot ignore all acceptable evidence and harass innocent people,” he said. “I want this case to open up the door for change, and for it to protect others from what we have been put through.”
He later said “there will be tears” but that he was very proud and looking forward to hugging his daughter.
