LONDON (Reuters) – Two survivors of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing in Britain won their harassment lawsuit on Wednesday against a conspiracy theorist who claims the deadly attack was staged.
Martin Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down and his daughter Eve, then 14, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in the attack following an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, northern England, in which 22 people were killed.
They sued Richard Hall – a self-styled journalist who claims without evidence that the attack was orchestrated by British government agencies – for alleged harassment.
Judge Karen Steyn said in a written ruling that Hall’s course of conduct in publishing a book and videos about the Manchester Arena bombing and filming Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019 amounted to harassment.
“Freedom of expression undoubtedly provides protection for journalism which focuses on important occurrences, such as the attack, and investigates the veracity and accuracy of established narratives as to what took place,” the judge said.
“But Mr Hall has abused media freedom. 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.”
The judge said she would decide whether to grant the Hibberts an injunction against Hall and the issue of any damages to be paid at a further hearing.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
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