'The end of a 40-year fight for justice': Victims of infected blood scandal say ... trends now
Victims of the infected blood scandal today described feeling 'emotional and nervous' as the final report into the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS is due to be published.
The Infected Blood Inquiry will conclude this afternoon after decades of 'tireless' work by campaigners, with Rishi Sunak expected to issue an apology for failings that have claimed more than 3,000 lives and continue to wreck countless others.
Tens of thousands of people in the UK were infected with deadly viruses after they were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s.
These include people who needed blood transfusions for accidents, in surgery or during childbirth, and patients with certain blood disorders who were treated with donated blood plasma products or blood transfusions.
They include Lee Turton, who died aged just 10 from Hep C and HIV after being given infected blood to treat his haemophilia aged two. His parents, Colin and Denise, said they had been 'lied to for 40 years' and 'just want justice'.
Colin and Denise Turton lost their son Lee when he was just 10 from Hep C and HIV
Lee was just two when he was given infected blood to treat his haemophilia
Contaminated blood scandal victim Colin Smith (pictured aged six in 1988) died aged seven in 1990 after contracting HIV from a dose of blood clotting protein Factor VIII
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Colin and Jan Smith, lost their son Colin Jnr in 1990 aged seven after he contracted HIV, today claimed he was used in 'secret trials' because he was 'cheaper than chimpanzees' to test on and called for those responsible to be prosecuted.
Others included Mike Dorricott, infected in 1982 before dying in 2015 aged 47 after years of suffering, and Nicky Calder, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and died in 1999 aged 25.
Nicky's mother, Rosemary, said his death 'destroyed' her life and led to the breakdown of her marriage.
It has been estimated that one person dies as a result of infected blood every four days.
The inquiry was first announced by former prime minister Theresa May in 2017, with the first official hearing held on April 20 2019.
It is one of the largest UK public inquiries.
Some 374 people have given oral evidence, and the inquiry has received more than 5,000 witness statements and reviewed more than 100,000 documents.
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The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, has previously said that 'wrongs were done at individual, collective and systemic levels'.
Campaigners have hailed the publication of the report as the 'end of a 40-year fight'.
Suresh Vaghela, of Leicester, said he was feeling 'nervous' ahead of the final report.
The 61-year-old started receiving contaminated Factor VIII blood product to treat his haemophilia when he was around 13 years old, and was told when he started university in 1983 that he had HIV and had two months to live.
In the early 1990s, he discovered he had also been infected with hepatitis C.
'We feel emotional at the moment in the sense that it's like a 40-year-old fight, and it's coming to an end and we've come to the end of our energy levels,' he said.
Mike Dorricott lies dying, at just 47, of liver cancer having contracted hepatitis C from contaminated NHS blood
Mike as a schoolboy. He was infected in 1982 before dying in 2015 aged 47 after years of suffering
Nicky Calder was given an infected blood product to treat haemophilia before being diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and dying in 1999 aged 25
Ade Goodyear (left, recently; and right, aged 12) suffered from severe haemophilia as a child and, in 1990 aged nine, was given the new treatment Factor VIII. He was later given three years to live, but survived
Mr Vaghela said he wanted a 'meaningful apology', decent compensation and for pharmaceutical companies 'to pay for what they've done'.
Rosamund Cooper, a former IT consultant, said she was 'really optimistic' for the inquiry's final report, but that there is 'no certainty' as to how the Government will react.
The 50-year-old, from Dudley, was diagnosed with Von Willebrand disease, a bleeding disorder, when she was eight months old.
When she was 19, she found out she had been infected with hepatitis C as a result of her treatment.
'I do genuinely think that the report will vindicate all of the struggles that we've been through,' Ms Cooper said.
Ade Goodyear suffered from severe haemophilia as a child and, in 1990 aged nine, was given the new treatment Factor VIII at the Lord Mayor Treloar College in Hampshire - which had a specialist blood unit.
Six years' later he was told by a doctor the blood had been infected and he had only three years to live.
Mr Goodyear, who survived, told Sky News this month: 'The doctor lifted up his hand and said - you have - you haven't - you have - got HIV. There were tears in all their eyes, the doctors and staff.
'My friend to my right said ''how long have we got?'' and he said ''we'll do our best but we think two to three years at the absolute most''.
Lauren Palmer lost her parents Stephen and Barbara within eight days of each other in 1993 after her father was given infected blood products for his severe haemophilia and
