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Conspiracy theories can have damaging effects. For the families of those murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting, those effects have been devestating. That attack is one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, but conspiracy theorist Alex Jones falsely claimed it was a hoax.
He has been ordered to pay $965m (£869m) to the families of eight victims and an FBI agent who responded to the attack - which left twenty children and six adults dead - following a defamation trial in Connecticut.
You may think conspiracy theories are an American phenomenon. Far from it.
Victims of the Manchester Arena bombing are currently dealing with hurtful and damaging comments by an online troll who claims the attack was staged.
We’ll be discussing that story in today’s newsletter. We’ll also be looking at a worrying new development in Rochdale, and an animation studio which has created some of the most recognisable characters of the silver screen.
Unbelievably cruel
Martin Hibbert suffered 22 shrapnel wounds, including one that severed his spinal cord, when he tried to shield his daughter Eve from the blast at Manchester Arena, on May 22, 2017.
A bolt which struck Eve, then 14, caused a significant brain injury. Five years on she still has to visit Salford Royal Hospital regularly, while Martin requires the use of a wheelchair.
The family have spent years trying to overcome the effects of the attack - both physical and psychological. But they never expected to be facing claims from conspiracy theorists who say UK terror attacks, such as the Manchester arena bombing, were in fact staged.
A BBC investigation by Marianna Spring has revealed how one theorist, based in Wales, even visited victims' homes, setting up cameras in an attempt to prove they had lied about their injuries.
According to a Panorama report which aired last night, a man named Richard D Hall described how he physically tracked down survivors of the attack - including Martin's daughter Eve - to determine if it was faked.
He admitted spying on Eve from a vehicle parked outside her home, in a video posted to his website. And said he had made 'door to door enquiries' to peddle his theory.
Martin has instructed his legal team to bring libel action against Mr Hall, and has vowed to 'shut him down.'
Speaking to M.E.N. reporter Sophie Halle-Richards, Martin said the theorist has claimed he is ‘not disabled’ and wasn't actually in the attack. "I am all for freedom of speech but when you start door stopping people asking to see people's disabilities and injuries it goes too far," he said. "He is profiting from other people's suffering and I won't have it.”
Martin says he wants to raise awareness of conspiracy theorists in the UK. "A lot of people think this just happens in America and I think they’d be shocked to find out it’s happening in Manchester,” he said.
"Online abuse is everywhere on every platform and they have got to do more. Until they take it seriously I don’t think the world will take it seriously. When they cross the line like this there has to be a penalty."
While the case highlighted by Panorama might be an extreme example, there is alarming evidence of the extent to which conspiracy theories have taken root in the wider population.
Research carried out by King's College London revealed that out of 4,000 people, weighted to be representative of the UK population, 14 per cent believe the 2017 Manchester Arena attack probably involved 'crisis actors' who pretended to be injured.
Andy Burnham is calling for laws preventing people from denying 'historical events.' The Greater Manchester mayor described the conspiracy theory as ‘unbelievably cruel’.
“Immediately people come back defending freedom of speech but this is not about opinion, it is written in fact,” he says. "People can’t be free to deny historical incidents and retraumatise victims of these events. I think people here would be furious that this is happening but sadly it’s a growing phenomenon.”
In a video defending his actions, Mr Hall said he did not hide or install a camera outside anyone's home, but admitted leaving a camera rolling in his vehicle 'while parked in a public place.'
A disclaimer on Mr Hall's website states ‘all the conclusions and assertions made concerning whether individuals have lied or have been untruthful are expressed purely as opinions’. "It is perfectly legal to have an opinion about whether somebody is telling the truth. And it is perfectly legal to express that opinion,” it reads.
Families affected are currently awaiting the second part of Sir John Saunders' report into the Manchester Arena attack - which is expected to be published on Thursday.
As John Scheerhout reports here, the emergency services are bracing themselves for criticism when the long-awaited report into their response is revealed.
Greater Manchester's Fire and Rescue Service has already apologised after its firefighters took more than two hours to arrive at the scene of the blast, blaming 'silence' from Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
GMP belatedly offered its own apology for communication and training failures but pointed the finger of blame at the senior officer in charge of the initial response - a position that has infuriated the families of those who lost loved ones.
And a North West Ambulance Service commander has offered their own apology - this was also rejected by the families. Only three paramedics were dispatched into the blast zone, and one of those was triaging rather than treating casualties.
It's a response the lawyer who represents the largest group of families, Kim Harrison, has described as 'catastrophic'. The casualties were taken on makeshift stretchers down the stairs to the concourse of Victoria railway station to be treated, and it took up to four hours for some victims to be removed.
Two of the 22 who died could have survived with more prompt treatment, their families believe.
A gateway to child exploitation
Children are being asked to sell vapes, in a move police say can lead to them being coerced into selling illegal drugs.
Detectives in Rochdale are on the lookout for children who are being criminally exploited - and have discovered a worrying new trend.
Detective Inspector Stuart Round says vape shops are of specific concern as they are ‘a gateway to child exploitation’.
"Children are being asked to sell vapes on, which can lead to them being coerced into selling illegal drugs. Intelligence also suggests that children are being encouraged to hang around certain premises and are being given food, cannabis and alcohol,” he says.
As James Holt reports, the Sunrise Complex Safeguarding Team - Rochdale's multi-agency response to child exploitation - are live to the threat and are working to build relationships with adults and children.
Officers recently seized illegal vapes, nitrous oxide cannisters and fake Viagra tablets worth thousands during a monthly operation acting on intelligence from concerned residents.
For the winter ahead
The Manchester Homelessness Partnership has revealed its plans for the coming winter months. Manchester Council’s scheme to assist rough sleepers has started today - a month earlier than usual.
En-suite rooms and bed spaces will be offered to people who are identified as high priority through a referral system. Space for more than 50 people has been made available in a former hotel outside the city centre.
The scheme aims to support people until they are ready to move to more permanent accommodation and is funded by the council, the government and supported by various local charities.
Coun Joanna Midgley, the council’s deputy leader, says the city is determined to maintain progress on reducing street sleeping, despite the cost of living crisis.
"Reducing street sleeping is only part of the story,” she says. “We are also increasing our emphasis on preventing people becoming homeless in the first place, giving those facing homelessness options other than temporary accommodation and sustainably reducing the numbers in such accommodation.”
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Weather etc
- Wednesday: Sunny intervals changing to cloudy by late morning. 13C.
- Road closures: A665 Bolton Road in both directions closed due to resurfacing work between Wordsworth Avenue and Unsworth Street until November 4.
- A575 Walkden Road Southbound closed due to gas main work from Mesne Lea Road to Kingsway until November 6.
- A665 Devonshire Street Northbound closed due to gas main work from A6 Stockport Road to Hellidon Close until November 4.
- Trains: Special timetable operating on TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast due to shortage of train crews.
- Trams: Revised service on Manchester Metrolink due to overrunning engineering works at Piccadilly Gardens. Some Metrolink services are operating with changes until the end of November when the works can be finished. Bury and Altrincham services are not operating into Piccadilly station. Ashton services are operating to Crumpsall via Victoria. Eccles services are only operating to Deansgate.
- Trivia question: Mackinnon and Saunders rose from the ashes of which former Chorlton-based animation studio?
Manchester headlines
Unwelcome distraction: Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson says officers were acting on 'credible' information during a fruitless search for Keith Bennett's remains last month. Officers spent a week searching an area of Saddleworth Moor after an amateur sleuth claimed to have found a human jaw bone, near to Dovestone Reservoir. Keith was one of the five victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Mr Watson today told BBC Radio Manchester the tip-off had not been 'crackpot' but it was ‘an unwelcome distraction because it proved not to have any validity’.
Counterfeit Street: Mr Watson has also aimed to manage expectations following last week's announcement that parts of Bury New Road known as 'Counterfeit Street' will face demolition. He described talk of bulldozing buildings as 'media hyperbole' - but then explained how unsafe buildings on the notorious stretch could, in fact, face demolition after all. He told BBC Radio Manchester: "If you take a building that's been chopped up, we don't know who the beneficial owner is, nobody's paying any rates, the thing is a fire hazard - well it's in those circumstances that I do want the property to be compulsory purchased. And if we can't make any use of that building, then perhaps they should be bulldozed because at that point, they can give rise to honest developers, people who might run legitimate businesses. We can bring some legitimate economic life back in that area for the people who live there."
Nicked: Bolton's Olympic cycling star, Sir Jason Kenny, has had his bike seat stolen from outside a branch of Tesco. It was swiped while he shopped inside the supermarket in Congleton, Cheshire. Team GB's most successful Olympian has taken to social media to try and get the seat from his Tern GSD returned, asking if someone's 'little darling' had just arrived home with the seat.
Luvdup
Phoebe Barton has been looking back at a Manchester nightclub that played an big part in the city’s gay nightlife during the 1990s.
Paradise Factory opened on Princess Street in 1993 in the former Factory Records HQ and became an iconic part of Manchester's club scene. Even Sue Pollard is said to have partied there.
Worth a read
Fantastic Mr Fox, The Corpse Bride, the aliens from Mars Attacks! - they’ve all graced the silver screen, but began life in a studio in Greater Manchester.
The experts at Mackinnon and Saunders have been making magic for screens big and small for 30 years. Writer Ben Arnold was lucky enough to visit the revered studio, in Altrincham, ahead of a retrospective of Mackinnon and Saunders’ work at The Waterside, in Sale.
“The people who work here are visionaries; highly skilled and highly sought-after artists, mechanics, mould makers, designers, sculptors, creators of every stripe,” Ben writes.
“It’s a place where Tim Burton knows its puppet makers by name. A place where cult director Wes Anderson decided he wanted to bring George Clooney’s Fantastic Mr Fox to bristling, wise-cracking life.”
Mackinnon & Saunders: 30 Years and Beyond is at the Sale Waterside’s Lauriston Gallery from November 19 to February 25, 2023, in partnership with the Manchester Animation Festival.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Cosgrove Hall.
