Infected blood: 'They put my whole family at risk'

A mother who was not told for three years her son had contracted HIV after being treated with infected blood products at school is hoping the results of a public inquiry will give her closure.

Angela Newcombe’s son, Neil Hilliard from Bideford, North Devon, suffered from haemophilia and was a pupil at Lord Mayor's Treloar's College, a boarding school for children with disabilities in Hampshire. He died from Aids aged 22 in 1994.

Mrs Newcombe said she was kept in the dark about her son’s treatment and his HIV diagnosis.

“They put my whole family at risk. I had a right to know," she said.

The final report from the Infected Blood Inquiry, which started in 2019 and heard evidence from hundreds of witnesses, is due to be delivered later.

Treloar's College had a specialist NHS haemophilia centre on site run by a dedicated medical team which offered children treatment from 1974 to 1987.

Seventy-five pupils at the school have since died after contracting HIV and hepatitis.

Haemophilia is a disorder that prevents blood from clotting properly and can lead to spontaneous bleeding.

A letter sent by a doctor at the Treloar Haemophilia Centre to Mr Hilliard’s consultant in July 1983 said he was carrying out "Aids-related investigations" on him.

Further letters submitted to the inquiry reveal Mr Hilliard tested positive for HIV in October 1984 when he was 12 years old.

This information was passed on to Mr Hilliard’s doctor at the haematology centre at what was then North Devon District Hospital in March 1985.

But Mrs Newcombe said she and her son were not told about the results until December 1987 - more than three years later.

Mrs Newcombe said she remembers the day they were told.

"There was very little advice - not to say anything, to use different toothbrushes and clear up any spillages thoroughly," she said.

"I was in shock, I thought perhaps he’ll be ok, perhaps he’ll get away with it.’

Mrs Newcombe said her son became angry after losing friends to Aids.

“He would say that’s another one gone,” she added.

Evidence in the Infected Blood Inquiry has revealed some children at Treloar’s were included in clinical trials without knowing and without their parents' consent.

Sir Brian Langstaff, chair of the inquiry, also heard evidence suggesting some children may have been brought to Treloar’s specifically for the purpose of testing.

A statement from Treloar's said: "We await the publication of the infected blood inquiry, which we hope will provide our former pupils with the answers they have been waiting for."

The BBC requested a comment from Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, it said, “As the report is not yet published we are unable to provide a comment.”

Mrs Newcombe said she hoped the end of the inquiry would help bring closure.

She said: “I want to know where we failed him and where they failed him. An end to it - that’s what I want.”

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