Compensation may offer blood scandal closure - dad

The father of a man who died from being given infected blood said receiving compensation had to provide closure, otherwise the unfairness of what happened "nags at you and you end up going round the bend".

More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV after receiving contaminated blood from the NHS and about 3,000 have since died.

Richard Norsworthy from Shropshire, a haemophiliac, was infected in 1981 and died eight years later aged 24.

His father Bruce said his death was "shattering" and those responsible were culpable for gross negligence.

On Monday, a damning report into the scandal which spanned between 1970 and 1991 concluded that doctors, bodies including the NHS, and governments had "repeatedly" failed victims.

The chief executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, has apologised on behalf of the health service, saying that tens of thousands of patients were "badly let down".

Mr Norsworthy, from Minsterely, his son "was amazingly philosophical," adding: "He just wanted to get on with it."

'Skin and bone'

"In those days, Aids was like a pariah thing and we tried to keep it relatively quiet because of the stigmas associated with it."

But he said gradually quite a few notable people got blood infections from the same source and it became more known.

His son ultimately died of a "weird sort of cancer associated with not having an immune system" because of HIV at the age of 24.

His death was "shattering" and their son was just "skin and bone".

The family did not know his death was preventable until much later on.

Those who have been infected have received annual financial support from the government, although a final compensation deal has not been agreed.

On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to those affected and infected.

"It's just tragic," Mr Norsworthy said.