A conspiracy theorist being sued by two survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing is “perfectly entitled” to believe the deadly attack was an “elaborate hoax”, his lawyer has told a court.

Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve, then 14, were among the hundreds of people injured when 22-year-old Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.

Mr Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down, while his daughter suffered a severe brain injury in the attack, which killed 22 people.

They are suing self-styled journalist Richard Hall for alleged harassment and breaches of data protection laws in a civil trial at the High Court in London.

Mr Hall has claimed that the attack was faked by government agencies using “crisis actors” and has published a book and videos claiming the bombing was a “hoax” - as well as “secretly filming” Miss Hibbert and her mother outside their house.