UK concert bombing survivors sue conspiracy theorist for alleged harassment

LONDON (Reuters) - Two survivors of a deadly suicide bombing in Britain are suing a conspiracy theorist who claims the attack was staged - a case with echoes of lawsuits brought by relatives of those killed in a mass school shooting in the United States.

Martin Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down and his daughter Eve, then 14, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in the attack after an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester, northern England, in 2017.

They are suing Richard D. Hall – a self-styled journalist who claims without evidence that the attack was orchestrated by British government agencies – for alleged harassment, misuse of private information and breaches of data protection laws.

The case bears similarities to defamation lawsuits brought against U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Twenty-two people were killed and many more injured when 22-year-old Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb as parents arrived to collect children at Manchester Arena in May 2017.

The Hibberts' lawyer Jonathan Price said that Hall "does not accept any of this – his theory is that it is an elaborate hoax".

Hall has published a book, published videos and given talks in which he claims the Hibberts were not at the concert. He also filmed Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019.

Price said the Hibberts were entitled to damages and an injunction to stop Hall repeating his claims about the attack.

Hall is fighting the lawsuit and argues that an injunction would be a disproportionate interference with his right to free speech.

"However unpleasant Mr Hall's published views are considered to be, they are protected," Hall's lawyer Paul Oakley said in court filings.

Martin Hibbert is due to give evidence at the trial, which is expected to conclude this week.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Mark Heinrich)