Manchester Arena bomb survivors win conspiracy harassment case

Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have won a High Court harassment case against a former television producer who claimed the attack was staged.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment and data protection in what was the first such case launched against a conspiracy theorist in the UK.

Mr Hibbert was left with a spinal cord injury and Ms Hibbert suffered severe brain damage as a result of the attack at the venue on 22 May 2017.

Mr Hall had told the court his actions, which included filming Eve outside her home, were in the public interest as a journalist and claimed “millions of people” had “bought a lie” about the attack.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Salman Abedi detonated a homemade rucksack-bomb in the foyer of the venue as thousands of people left an Ariana Grande concert.

The court was told the Hibberts were among those standing nearest to the bomber at the time of the blast.

It is the first time such action has been taken – and won – in the UK against a conspiracy theorist.

The ruling follows a BBC Panorama and Radio 4 podcast investigation in 2022, which revealed how Martin and Eve Hibbert were among victims targeted by conspiracy theorist Richard D Hall.

He has described online how he tracks down survivors to their homes and workplaces to see if they are lying about their injuries.

Mr Hibbert said the ruling was a “comprehensive victory” which he hoped would help “protect others from what we have been put through in the future”.

He said he planned to talk to his legal team following the ruling with the aim of “establishing a new law in Eve’s name”.

“I don’t want to make much more comment until the final terms of the judgment are agreed in terms of settlements, and hopefully an injunction being imposed.”

Across several videos and a book, Mr Hall claimed several of those who died were living abroad or were dead before the attack and told the court he believed that no-one was “genuinely injured” in the bombing.

In a 63-page judgement, Mrs Justice Steyn said the Hibberts had won their harassment claim, but said she would not decide the data protection claim at this stage.

The judge said there was “powerful evidence that Mr Hall’s course of conduct caused Mr Hibbert to suffer alarm, distress and anxiety”.

Jonathan Price, representing the Hibberts, said the bomb had changed his clients’ lives “in every conceivable way”.

“They have both suffered life-changing injuries from which they will never recover,” the barrister said.

The court heard that Mr Hibbert received 22 wounds from shrapnel, while his daughter suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” and was initially presumed dead at the scene after a bolt from the bomb struck her in the head.

“Martin, paralysed, saw Eve lying next to him with a hole in her head and assumed he was watching her die, unable to help,” he said.

“He saw others lying dead or injured around him.”

Kerry Gillespie, a solicitor for the Hibbert, said the case was “hugely important” in sending a message to those “who think they have the right to publish absurd, harmful, unfounded allegations against others”.

“This is often happening against people who have already suffered from high-profile tragedies in their lives”, she said.

“Many feel they can do this unchallenged”, she said, but added “that landscape has been changed today” with ruling setting a precedent to challenge this sort of behaviour.”