Father and daughter sue man who claims Manchester Arena terrorist bombing was 'elaborate hoax' with 'crisis actors' used

The Manchester Arena terror atrocity affected a survivor's life 'in every conceivable way', the High Court has heard at the start of a harassment trial against a man who claims the bombing was faked as an 'elaborate hoax' and actors used.

Martin and Eve Hibbert are suing self-described journalist Richard Hall for harassment and data protection breaches. The father and daughter were at the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 and suffered life-changing injuries, with Mr Hibbert left with a spinal cord injury and Ms Hibbert facing severe brain damage.

However, Mr Hall has claimed that the attack, in which Salman Abedi detonated a home-made rucksack bomb in the crowd of concert-goers, was faked by government agencies with 'crisis actors' used.

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Mr Hall is being sued over several videos and a book in which he has made claims that the bombing was a 'hoax', as well as 'secretly filming' Eve and her mother at their house.

Defending the claims, lawyers for Mr Hall said his actions were 'pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime' and that he has deleted the footage from outside the home.

On Monday, Mr Hibbert and Mr Hall appeared at the High Court for the first day of the trial, with around 20 members of the public watching the proceedings across two courtrooms.

Jonathan Price, for the Hibberts, said the pair were some of the closest to Abedi when he detonated the bomb and that the attack changed Mr Hibbert’s life 'in every conceivable way'. "They have both suffered life-changing injuries from which they will never recover," the barrister said.

The court heard that Mr Hibbert received 22 wounds from shrapnel, and Miss