Two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing were awarded £45,000 today after suing a former TV producer who claims the attack was staged.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall for harassment after he claimed it was a state-orchestrated hoax involving the pair as “crisis actors”.

The Hibberts suffered life-changing injuries at the concert in May 2017, with Mr Hibbert left with a spinal cord injury and Miss Hibbert facing serious brain damage.

Mr Hall made his claims in several videos and a book and claimed his actions – including filming Miss Hibbert outside her home – were in the public interest as a journalist and that “millions of people bought a lie”. about the attack.

In a 63-page High Court judgment handed down on October 23, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in favor of the Hibberts and described Mr Hall’s conduct as “a careless, indeed reckless, abuse of the freedom of the press”.

She added that the qualified engineer was “habitual in believing that the false story he told was true”.

Martin and Eve Hibbert (pictured) suffered life-changing injuries in the Manchester Arena explosion

Richard Hall at the High Court in London during a three-and-a-half-day trial in July

Today, at another hearing, the judge said Mr Hibbert and his daughter would each receive £22,500 in compensation.

Jonathan Price, for the pair, said Mr Hall’s behavior was “towards the more oppressive end of the harassment spectrum”.

He continued in written statements: “In a series of widely viewed videos, a print publication, as well as during in-person lectures, the defendant insisted that the terrorist attack in which the plaintiffs were catastrophically injured did not occur and that plaintiffs were participants or ‘crisis actors’ in a state-orchestrated hoax who had repeatedly, publicly and blatantly lied to the public for monetary gain.”

Mr Price said a total of £75,000 should be awarded to the pair in compensation, as well as at least 90 per cent of their legal fees.

Paul Oakley, for Mr Hall, said in written submissions that £7,500 each in damages “would be appropriate”, adding that there was “no justification” for aggravated damages.

Richard Hall is pictured setting up a camera to try to support his claim that survivor Eve Hibbert faked her injuries.

Richard Hall even visited Eve Hibbert’s home and set up a camera disguised in fake plant foliage that he planned to use to see if it could work.

“There is no allegation of malice and that is really a fundamental point in terms of damages,” he told the court.

“Some of these harassment cases can get pretty ugly, but there was no retaliation.”

Mr Oakley later said a suggested injunction was too broad, describing it as “a blanket ban” on all of Mr Hall’s output, and called the Hibberts’ estimated costs “outrageous”.

Counsel said in written submissions: “Mr Hall’s work was not ‘about’ the claimants, who appeared only minimally in the entirety of his recorded and written work.

— At best those parts of Mr. Hall’s papers which concern the plaintiffs may be redacted, but no more.

Martin Hibbert made a statement at the High Court in London during the trial on July 25

Mr Oakley also said Mr Hall should be awarded costs after a data protection claim by the Hibberts was not pursued.

In her ruling last month, Mrs Justice Steyn added: “Over a period of years he has repeatedly published false allegations based on the flimsiest of analytical techniques and dismissive of the obvious, tragic reality that so many ordinary people have attested to it.

“He has published his allegations widely, on a variety of platforms, over a period of years to viewers and readers in this jurisdiction, who probably number well over 100,000.

“He did this for commercial gain, although I accept his evidence that the financial benefit to him was only sufficient to enable him to continue his work. All of these behaviors have a natural tendency to cause serious distress, especially when those targeted are vulnerable.

Martin Hibbert is pictured in a wheelchair outside the High Court during the trial on July 22

Salman Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds when he detonated his homemade backpack bomb into a crowd of concertgoers at an Ariana Grand concert.

The court was told that the Hibberts were among those standing closest to him at the time of the explosion.

The judge said in her ruling that by the time Mr Hall published his book and some of the videos, the suicide bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi had been convicted, “however, Mr Hall paid no attention to the facts which demonstrated that the jury found proved for the criminal standard’.

Mrs Justice Steyn continued: “Mr Hall published and continues to publish his false allegations despite the fact that the attack was the subject of thorough investigations, a criminal trial and authoritative reports that any reasonable person would respect.

Salman Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack

“Mr Hall’s publications are not only false, they also lack any semblance of balance.”

At a trial in July, the court heard Mr Hibbert suffered 22 shrapnel wounds and Miss Hibbert suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” after a bolt from the bomb hit her in the head, causing for her to be presumed dead at the scene.

Mrs Justice Steyn said it was clear that Mr Hall’s actions, including his “increasingly intrusive and offensive publications” had alarmed and distressed Mr Hibbert and that following Miss Hibbert to her home was an unjustified interference with family rights to privacy.

She added: “Mr Hall knew that Mr Hibbert had said that his teenage daughter, who he had taken to the concert, had been hit in the head by a bolt propelled by the explosion and had been very seriously injured.

“She also knew that her family was keeping her out of any media attention.

The victims of the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017 were (top row from left) Elaine McIver, 43, Saffie-Rose Roussos, 8, Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, (second row, from left) Nell Jones, 14, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, Megan Hurley, 15, Georgina Callander, 18 (third row, from left), Chloe Rutherford, 17, Liam Curry, 19, Courtney Boyle, 19, and Philip Tron, 32 (fourth row, from left) John Atkinson, 26, Martyn Hett, 29, Kelly Brewster, 32, Angelika Klis, 39, (row fifth row, from left) Marcin Klis, 42, Michelle Kiss, 45, Alison Howe, 45, and Lisa Lees, 43 (Fifth row, from left) Wendy Fawell, 50 and Jane Tweddle, 51

“From the information available, it should have been readily apparent to any journalist – even if the individual journalist was highly skeptical of the ‘official narrative’ – that Eve should have been treated as a vulnerable young man who was caught and seriously injured in an incident traumatic.’

Martin Hibbert described last month’s decision as a “comprehensive victory”, adding: “I am very pleased not only with the overall judgment but also with the judge’s many comments about how unacceptable Hall’s behavior was.”

He also said he hoped for an injunction, adding: “I want this to open the door for change and help protect others from what we have been put through in the future.

“I will discuss this with my legal team at Hudgell Solicitors with a view to establishing a new law on Eve’s behalf.”