Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have won a High Court harassment case against a former TV producer who claimed the attack was staged.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard D 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.
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 Central Manchester venue as thousands of people left an Ariana Grande concert. The court was told the Hibberts were among those standing closest to the bomber at the time of the blast.
Across several videos and a book, 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, although she said she would not decide the data protection claim at this stage.
The judge said she found Hall to be “unreflective and insensitive to the level of distress likely to be caused by his persistent attempts to discredit what those who have suffered so tragically in the Attack say about it”.
He “abused media freedom” to publish false allegations based on the “flimsiest of analytical techniques, and dismissing the obvious, tragic reality to which so many ordinary people have attested”.
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 his daughter’s name. He added: “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.”
The court heard that 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.
Kerry Gillespie, an associate solicitor at Manchester’s Hudgell Solicitors who represented the Hibberts, said the case was “hugely important in the wider context of sending a very clear message to people who think they have the right to publish absurd, harmful, unfounded allegations against others.”
She added: “We live in a world where this repugnant behaviour is becoming all the more common, where people like Mr Hall have access to many media platforms which enable them to publish their abhorrent, unfounded opinions and allegations. Many feel they can do this unchallenged, hiding behind the facade of challenging the official narrative.”
She said the Judge’s findings set a precedent which would pave the way for more people’s behaviour to be challenged and brought to the courts. The case marks 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 the Hibberts were among victims targeted by Hall. At the time of the investigation, Hall’s YouTube channel had received more than 16 million views and had 80,000 subscribers on YouTube.
The channel, which also veered into UFO and deep state conspiracy theories, was removed following the programme.
