The guilt of infected blood donors and the anger of victims whose diagnosis of HIV and hepatitis C was withheld from them for years has emerged as evidence given in secret was read out to a public hearing in London.

On Monday, witnesses who did not want to appear in person had their testimony delivered by intermediaries who interviewed them for the infected blood inquiry. It is examining how as many as 30,000 people became severely ill after being given contaminated blood products by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s; many have since died.

Opening a fresh session of the inquiry, its chair, the former high court judge Sir Brian Langstaff, said 189 witnesses had so far appeared but some patients were reluctant to talk openly about conditions that are “life-shortening and life-threatening”.

Three expert intermediaries – Pam Allen, a social worker, Kay Durrant, a former detective and family liaison officer, and Jackie Wilson, a social worker who specialised in family court cases – interviewed about 85 individuals across the UK.

Some had been infected through NHS surgery, others through childbirth, treatment for haemophilia or contact with a partner. “It was the first time these people were telling their story,” Wilson explained. Read more

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