WEB OF LIES
Moment conspiracy nut plants secret camera in warped bid to ‘expose’ Manchester victim after claiming bombing was FAKE
YouTuber believes victims were 'crisis actors' hired by the government to stage terror attack
THIS is the moment a conspiracy nut plants a hidden camera in a warped bid to "expose" a Manchester bomb victim.
Richard Hall believes the 2017 terror attack that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more was staged by the government.
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The fantasist targeted dad and daughter Martin and Eve Hibbert, who suffered life-changing injuries when Salman Abedi detonated a rucksack bomb at the Ariana Grande concert, for "proof".
Eve was just 14 when she was left facing severe brain damage and still uses a wheelchair seven years later, while her dad suffered a spinal cord injury.
As part of his crazed campaign, he visited her home and set up a camera hidden in a fake plant to see whether the now 21-year-old was able to walk.
The conspiracy theorist, whose videos have been viewed more than 16million times, claimed he had left the camera rolling in his van.
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Even when Eve left the house in her wheelchair, Hall maintained there was "no evidence" her injuries were due to the bomb.
The nut also believes the dad and daughter were "likely harmed before the attack" but did not attend Manchester Arena that night - even though CCTV showed them at the concert.
They took Hall to the High Court for harassment, misuse of private information and data protection infringement after he waged war against them.
Hall also claimed the victims of the attack were "crisis actors" and that the blast was faked by Government agencies.
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He has been accused of profiting from the attack by selling books about it being faked.
Hall flogs a "compilation" DVD of his bizarre theories on his online store for £15 and has begged followers for donations.
Salman Abedi is captured making last-minute preparations in Manchester Arena lift in chilling CCTV
He also disputes Madeleine McCann's disappearance and MP Jo Cox's murder.
His YouTube was previously removed after a BBC Panorama investigation revealed he had visited the homes of victims.
As well as doorstepping Eve, tracked down Lisa Bridgett who broke her right ankle and severed the middle finger on her left hand while waiting to pick her daughter up from the arena.
At the time, Martin told the show: "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.
"He is profiting from other people's suffering and I won't have it. He can say what he wants about me, but when it comes to my daughter and those people who have lost loved ones it's too far.
"We have enough to deal with just getting through day-to-day life without him."
When he started to approach my daughter and her home as part of these fanciful investigations he went way too far.
Martin Hibbert
Hall now faces being "shut down" by a judge, who yesterday branded his claims "absurd and fantastical".
The ruling was welcomed by Eve and Martin, who said Hall's views are "repugnant and offensive to those who suffered so badly that evening".
Martin added: “When he started to approach my daughter and her home as part of these fanciful investigations he went way too far.
"It is unacceptable to bring anxiety and distress to us in this way and a stand had to be taken.
"I am pleased that a court saw through his ridiculous assertions."
The legal battle is the first of its kind in the UK to be launched against a conspiracy theorist to stop them sharing their harmful views.
Hall - representing himself - showed the court a series of images he claims shows survivors are lying about their injuries.
He also referred to stricken concert-goers on the ground as having "agreed to take part in an exercise".
How the Manchester bombing unfolded
Abedi was also caught in chilling CCTV images with a rucksack packed with thousands of nuts just 19 seconds before the deadly blast.
He had waited for around an hour in the Manchester Arena foyer before parents and children left the gig at 10.30pm.
One minute later, he detonated the bomb as 359 people stood in the City Room - with 19 declared dead at the scene.
The youngest victim, Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, suffered more than 70 external injuries, with 17 metal nuts in her body, and died from blood loss due to multiple injuries.
Among debris found after the blast were 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flanged nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from Abedi and his victims.
There were also screws recovered by investigators but they were so damaged they couldn't be counted.
Abedi's body was later found in four parts and he had to be identified by his DNA and fingerprints.
His brother was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
Judge Richard Davison ruled in favour of the Hibberts for a summary judgment - meaning parts of the case can be decided without a trial.
He said he feared Hall would use a trial "as a vehicle to advance and test his staged attack hypothesis".
The judge also said it was "fanciful" to suggest that Abedi did not die and "still more fanciful" to argue the bomber was an intelligence asset".
He added: "Suffice it to say that, although his beliefs may be genuinely held, his theory that the Manchester bombing was an operation staged by government agencies in which no one was genuinely killed or injured is absurd and fantastical and it provides no basis to rebut the conviction."
Further hearings are expected to take place to determine the rest of the claim and costs.
Abedi murdered innocent children and adults and left hundreds of others injured in the blast.
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He also died in the horrific attack, while his ISIS fanatic brother Hashem was later jailed for life for his "integral role" in the atrocity.
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