Two survivors of the 2017 suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England won a harassment claim on Wednesday against a former television producer who alleged the attack was a hoax.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment and breaches of data protection, following Hall’s claims in several videos and a book that the Manchester Arena attack, which killed 22 people, was staged.
The attack, carried out by an Islamist extremist in May 2017, caused life-altering injuries to the pair, as well as leaving around 100 others injured. Martin Hibbert was left paralysed from the waist down, while his daughter Eve, who was 14 at the time, sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Hall, who had filmed Eve outside her home as part of his activities, claimed his actions were in the public interest and that “millions of people have bought a lie” about the attack.
Described as an independent journalist and broadcaster, Hall alleged that “elements within the state” and ordinary citizens, including the claimants, participated in the “deception.” He maintained that the Hibberts were “crisis actors” and that “no one was injured or died,” according to the court.
In a 63-page ruling, Judge Karen Steyn concluded that Hall had harassed the Hibberts with his “false narrative” but deferred judgment on the data protection claim. Steyn noted that Hall had “abused media freedom” for “commercial gain… sufficient to enable him to continue his work.”
The judge wrote, “Over a period of years, he has repeatedly published false allegations, based on the flimsiest of analytical techniques, and dismissing the obvious, tragic reality to which so many ordinary people have attested.”
Steyn added that Hall’s conduct was likely to cause significant distress, particularly as his targets were vulnerable individuals.
The court will hear further arguments before deciding on appropriate “relief” and the unresolved data protection claim.
The suicide attack, which occurred as concert-goers were leaving the Manchester Arena, was carried out by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Manchester native of Libyan descent. Inspired by the Islamic State group, he used a homemade shrapnel bomb to target a crowd of mostly young people attending the concert, as well as parents waiting to collect their children.