Two Manchester attack survivors have been awarded £45,000 in damages after winning a harassment claim against a former TV producer who said the bombing was staged.
The ruling in favour of Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve comes after they sued Richard Hall over claims he made in several videos and a book that the arena attack was a state-orchestrated hoax.
He accused them of being “crisis actors” who were not at the concert and did not suffer their injuries there.
Mr Hall said filming Ms Hibbert outside her home was in the public interest as a journalist, adding that “millions of people have bought a lie” about the attack.
Salman Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds when he detonated a rucksack bomb at the Ariana Grande show on 22 May 2017.
The Hibberts were among those closest to Abedi when he detonated the bomb.
Mr Hibbert suffered multiple shrapnel wounds, leaving him paralysed from the waist down and suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Ms Hibbert, then 14, was left with a “catastrophic” brain injury and needs full-time care. She also experiences PTSD and depression.
Judge Mrs Justice Steyn said last month that Mr Hall’s behaviour was “a negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom”.
On Friday, she awarded them damages of £22,500 each.
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