Sandy hook families warn against ‘wannabes’ following Alex Jones in ‘lies and deceit’ after record payout

Consiracy theorist has now had more than $1bn in verdicts returned against him in two trials

The families of Sandy Hook victims reacted emotionally outside a Connecticut court to the $965m ruling a jury made against right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The Infowars host has now had more than $1bn in verdicts made against him in two trials by family members who have suffered almost a decade of abuse and harassment because of his lies about the mass shooting.

Jones, who was previously ordered by a Texas jury to pay a victim’s family more than $49m, was not in the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon as the jury returned their unanimous verdict against him.

“There will be more Alex Jones’s in this world but what they learned here today is that they absolutely will be held accountable,” said Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the principal at Sandy Hook.

Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter was killed at Sandy Hook, fought back tears as he thanked the jury for their verdict.

“Everyone on the stand told the truth except for one,” he said emotionally.

Mr Parker then had a message for anyone who listens to Jones, asking them to ask themselves, “What has this man ever given me, and what has he taken from me?”

And he added: “What has he taken from you?”

Bill Sherlach, whose wife Mary was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, thanked the jury for coming through “for our entire community.”

“It shows that the Internet is not the wild, wild west and that your actions have consequences. And for someone to stand in front of a camera as we are speaking to spew lies and enrich himself, now there is a cost-benefit analysis to be done.”

And he warned “Alex Jones’s wannabes” that there was now a cost of entering the “realm of lies and deceit.”

Chris Mattei, an attorney for the victims, said that his team was “going to enforce this verdict as long as it takes because that is what justice requires.”

Fellow attorney for the plaintiffs, Josh Koskoff, told reporters: “If this verdict shuts down Alex Jones, good.”