The judge said there was “powerful evidence that Mr Hall’s course of conduct caused Mr Hibbert to suffer alarm, distress and anxiety”.
Jonathan Price, representing the Hibberts, said the bomb had changed his clients’ lives “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, while his daughter suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” and was initially presumed dead at the scene after a bolt from the bomb struck her in the head.
“Martin, paralysed, saw Eve lying next to him with a hole in her head and assumed he was watching her die, unable to help,” he said.
“He saw others lying dead or injured around him.”
Kerry Gillespie, a solicitor for the Hibbert, said the case was “hugely important” in sending a message to those “who think they have the right to publish absurd, harmful, unfounded allegations against others”.
“This is often happening against people who have already suffered from high-profile tragedies in their lives”, she said.
“Many feel they can do this unchallenged”, she said, but added “that landscape has been changed today” with ruling setting a precedent to challenge this sort of behaviour.”
