Two survivors of a bombing that killed 22 people at the close of an Ariana Grande concert seven years ago have been awarded 45,000 pounds (about $58,212) in damages on Friday after successfully suing a conspiracy theorist who alleged that the attack was staged.
Martin Hibbert had been paralysed from the waist down together with his daughter, Eve, (a 14-yr old then) who suffered an unfortunate brain injury in the bombing at Manchester Arena in northern England in 2017.
They both had sued Richard Hall – a self-styled journalist who made allegations (with no evidence) that the attack was instigated by British government agencies – for harassment.
Their case bore some similarities to defamation lawsuits brought against a U.S conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
Judge Karen Steyn had just last month ruled that Hall’s conduct in publishing a book and videos about the Manchester Arena bombing and filming Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019 equaled to harassment.
The judge thereafter awarded Martin and Eve Hibbert a total of 45,000 pounds after an additional hearing on Friday.
