Conspiracy trolls accuse victims of Manchester bomb of faking atrocity
A CONSPIRACY theorist has been branded ‘despicable and disgusting’ by Manchester Arena bomb survivors after he filmed them in an attempt to discredit their injuries.
Richard D Hall claimed the 2017 attack was staged using actors and that the 22 people murdered had either died previously or been flown overseas.
Hall targeted survivors including Martin Hibbert, who was left in a wheelchair, and Lisa Bridgett, who lost a finger and was blasted through the cheek with shrapnel.
His activities were revealed by the BBC’s Panorama programme last night. Hall is among numerous conspiracy theorists who claim the attack – which also claimed the life of 14-year-old Eilidh MacLeod from Barra – was staged.
Mr Hibbert’s solicitor, Neil Hudgell, last night accused Hall of ‘repugnant behaviour’. He said: ‘A number of our clients, including Martin Hibbert, have instructed us to issue proceedings against a named individual for defamation and harassment, including a claim in damages as well as for restraining injunctions.
‘These relate to outlandish claims following the Manchester Arena atrocity that our clients are not genuine and did not suffer the life changing injuries they did. Several of our clients have had this man on their doorstep, taking photographs, invading their privacy in the most intrusive way.’
Mrs Bridgett, 50, was working at a boating centre when Hall visited posing
‘They have had this man on their doorstep’
as a customer. A colleague sent him to neighbouring premises.
In a video posted online, Hall, who wore a body camera, said: ‘I saw her in the office but it was up at height so I couldn’t see her finger.’ Hall also named her children and shared photos of her workplace in a book. He profits from selling books and DVDs outlining his theories that terror attacks were staged, as well as speaking at events and posting videos online.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mrs Bridgett, who also suffered a broken leg and considers herself ‘so lucky’ to have survived, said she was not aware of Hall’s visit until being contacted by the programme makers.
She said: ‘It’s just quite frightening what lengths somebody would go to to discredit you. I just think people like this, they are disgusting really. On one of the videos, he was with a lady who wouldn’t be named, who was laughing at our injuries.’
Hall also targeted sports management agent Mr Hibbert, 46, who was paralysed from the waist down following the attack, and his daughter Eve, now 20, who was left severely disabled due to a brain injury.
In a video shared online, Hall demonstrated setting up a camera disguised in fake plant foliage which he planned to use to film Eve to see whether she could walk. He later claimed he left ‘a camera rolling’ in his van which was ‘parked in a public place’. Hall acknowledged in his video that Eve left the house in a wheelchair but added there was ‘no evidence’ her injury was from the bombing.
Mr Hibbert told Panorama: ‘I’m all for freedom of speech, but it crosses the line when you’re saying I’m an actor or I’ve not got a spinal cord injury or Eve’s not disabled, she’s not in a wheelchair.’ Hall has examined each of those killed and several of those seriously injured in the suicide attack carried out by Islamist terrorist Salman Abedi and co-organised by his brother Hashem, who was jailed for life in 2020.
Greater Manchester Police said its investigating team has been made aware of the BBC programme but gave no further comment. The documentary was released days before the latest section of the Manchester Arena public inquiry report is due to be published, examining the work of the emergency services. Research for the BBC by King’s College London found worrying numbers of people believe the attack was fake.
Of 4,000 surveyed, one in five didn’t believe the victims’ accounts and one in seven had doubts that major terror attacks occurred.
In a comment on his website, Hall, 54 – originally from Consett, County Durham, but who now lives in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales – said: ‘I made some polite door to door inquiries in order to gather evidence, which is a perfectly legitimate activity when doing research. I did not hide cameras outside somebody’s home. I have not accused anyone of lying.
‘There has been no satisfactory evidence presented to the public which proves that the Manchester arena incident was not staged.’
Last night, YouTube said it had removed two channels containing ‘abhorrent’ posts by Hall and is examining a third.
A spokesman said its hate speech policy bans content that denies violent historical events.