Conspiracy theorist ordered to pay $49.3m in damages over school massacre claims

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay damages (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A Texas jury has ordered Infowars’ Alex Jones to pay 49.3 million dollars in damages to the parents of a pupil killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre which the conspiracy theorist falsely called a hoax.

The amount is less than the 150 million dollars sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among 19 children and six educators killed in the deadliest classroom shooting in US history.