Manchester victims win legal battle against conspiracy nut who secretly filmed them in bid to prove bombing was FAKE
TWO victims of the Manchester attack have won a battle against a conspiracy nut who secretly filmed them to “expose” the bombing as fake.
Richard Hall believes the 2017 terror attack that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more was staged by the government.
The fantasist targeted dad and daughter Martin and Eve Hibbert, who suffered life-changing injuries when Salman Abedi detonated a rucksack bomb at the Ariana Grande concert, for “proof”.
Eve was just 14 when she was left facing severe brain damage and still uses a wheelchair seven years later, while her dad suffered a spinal cord injury.
As part of his crazed campaign, he visited her home and set up a camera hidden in a fake plant to see whether the now 21-year-old was able to walk.
Eve and Martin sued Hall for harassment and data protection over his claims in several videos and a book that the attack was staged.
A top judge today ruled they had won the harassment claim but a decision into the data protection is ongoing.
Mrs Justice Steyn said there was “powerful evidence that Mr Hall’s course of conduct caused Mr Hibbert to suffer alarm, distress and anxiety”.
Following the judge’s ruling, Martin Hibbert described the decision as a “comprehensive victory”.
He said: “I am really pleased with not only the overall judgment, but also the many comments of the judge as to how unacceptable Hall’s behaviour was.
“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.
“However, I do want this to open the door for change, and to help protect others from what we have been put through in the future.
“I will be discussing this with my legal team at Hudgell Solicitors, with the aim of establishing a new law in Eve’s name.”
During the case, Hall told the court “millions of people have bought a lie” about the attack.
He said his actions were in the public interest as a journalist and claimed several of those who died are living abroad or were dead before the attack.
Hall added: “The primary evidence shows there was no bomb in that room that exploded.”
But Jonathan Price, for the Hibberts, said the bomb had changed Martin’s life “in every conceivable way”.
He received 22 wounds from shrapnel, while Eve suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” after a bolt from the bomb struck her in the head.
Mr Price added: “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 saw others lying dead or injured around him.”
Hall, whose videos have been viewed more than 16million times, claimed he had left the camera rolling in his van to “expose” the dad and daughter.
Even when Eve left the house in her wheelchair, Hall maintained there was “no evidence” her injuries were due to the bomb.
The nut also claimed the dad and daughter were “likely harmed before the attack” but did not attend Manchester Arena that night – even though CCTV showed them at the concert.
How the Manchester bombing unfolded
Abedi was also caught in chilling CCTV images with a rucksack packed with thousands of nuts just 19 seconds before the deadly blast.
He had waited for around an hour in the Manchester Arena foyer before parents and children left the gig at 10.30pm.
One minute later, he detonated the bomb as 359 people stood in the City Room – with 19 declared dead at the scene.
The youngest victim, Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, suffered more than 70 external injuries, with 17 metal nuts in her body, and died from blood loss due to multiple injuries.
Among debris found after the blast were 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flanged nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from Abedi and his victims.
There were also screws recovered by investigators but they were so damaged they couldn’t be counted.
Abedi’s body was later found in four parts and he had to be identified by his DNA and fingerprints.
His brother was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
He hit at other victims – branding them “crisis actors” – and said the blast was faked by Government agencies.
Hall has previously been accused of profiting from the attack by selling books about it being faked.
He flogs a “compilation” DVD of his bizarre theories on his online store for £15 and has begged followers for donations.
Hall also disputes Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and MP Jo Cox’s murder.
The legal battle was the first of its kind in the UK to be launched against a conspiracy theorist to stop them sharing their harmful views.