Treloar's College was 'using the boys as guinea pigs' to treat haemophilia

Martin Wells contracted HIV from infected blood products he was given in 1983, his family say

"I received a phone call from one of the doctors telling me [my son] Martin was in the sick bay where he had been for three weeks.

"This was the first time they were telling me because they were worried he might actually pass away."

Martin Wells was born in Podsmead, Gloucestershire, in 1968 with "a bruise on the top of his head [which doctors] said was normal," Chris Woodridge said.

He was diagnosed with haemophilia, a bleeding disorder, at 18 months old.

He later contracted HIV, as part of the infected blood scandal, which saw more than 30,000 people infected with diseases from contaminated blood products during the 1970s and 1980s.

"He used to bruise from rolling over, side to side... so I took him to the doctor and she told me she was sure it was haemophilia and nothing could be done for him," Ms Woodridge said.

"He was around eight months old then."

Chris Woodridge said she was told "nothing could be done" to treat her son's haemophilia when he was less than a year old

His sister, Stella Wells, said when it came to school, he initially went to a mainstream setting but they struggled to support him with his medication.

He was then sent to Lord Mayor's Treloar's College, a boarding school for children with disabilities, which had a specialist NHS haemophilia centre on site run by a dedicated medical team.

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

'Contracted HIV'

Ms Wells said her brother "grew independence in managing his medication and met other people the same".

"He had a lot of peers with haemophilia and that was where he contracted HIV [after receiving infected Factor VIII blood] in 1983."

The family was left trying to pick up the pieces and his mother Chris Woodridge had a break down.

She said as soon as she saw her son in the sick bay, she "knew what it was".

Chris Woodridge said she had a break down after the HIV diagnosis

Ms Woodridge said she had watched a Panorama programme on HIV in America and told the doctors: "I'm sure, so don't lie to me. Please tell me the truth.'"

"And so they confirmed it over the telephone in November 1983, to say 'yes', it was HIV.

"I remember my teeth shaking and I hadn't smoked for ages and I rushed out the garage and said to my husband give me a [cigarette]."

'Couldn't talk'

Ms Woodridge remembers coming home from school and finding her "Mum was just sat on the floor crying".

"We were told that we couldn't talk to anybody about it. And we had to live [together] in a house.

"They didn't know how easily it was contracted. I believe that was why we had to have separate everything, separate towels, separate cutlery," she added.

"I got obsessed with bleaching everything, going behind, cleaning everything," Ms Woodridge said.

Stella said there was nothing put in place to support any of the families of newly diagnosed HIV patients.

"You think you're the only ones and it wasn't a safe environment to talk to anybody about it or to tell people.

"There was so much stigma and discrimination," she added.

Ms Wells said there was "so much stigma and discrimination" about HIV at the time of her brother's diagnosis

From 1974 to 1987, children - like Martin Wells - were offered treatment for haemophilia at Treloar's College.

At least 72 of those pupils died after being infected with HIV and viral hepatitis when they were treated with infected blood products.

They were unwittingly caught up in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, in which patients were treated with contaminated blood that was untested.

In June 2021 a public inquiry into the scandal began hearing from former students.

Ms Woodridge said the family knew before her son that he had HIV

Treloar's College issued a statement regarding the national infected blood scandal.

It read: "As a school and college that is dedicated to supporting disabled young people, the stories of our former students who were infected are especially heart-wrenching to hear.

"Treloar's staff, students and their families, together placed their trust in the treatment and advice given out by the NHS clinic, and the doctors and medical professionals who ran it in the 1970s and 80s.

"It has been shocking to discover, through the ongoing public inquiry, that some of our students may have received treatment there which was unsafe or experimental, and that the NHS did not always obtain sufficient consent.

"We know that people's lives were torn apart by what was done to them, right across the country, through the treatment they received from the NHS at the time.

"They all deserve answers from the ongoing public inquiry, and we strongly support the urgent need to accelerate compensation payments from the Government.

"We want to ensure that their horrendous experiences are acknowledged and remembered."

'Glandular fever'

In a twist, which Ms Wells called "quite shocking", she said for a long time her brother did not know he had HIV.

"We knew prior to Martin… he was told he had glandular fever," his mother said.

"And most of the boys at Treloar College contracted HIV and they were all told they had glandular fever," Ms Woodridge added.

When he was 17, his family asked for him to be told he had HIV because he had finished school and started working.

But when he "found out he was HIV he decided to tell his employers who immediately made him redundant", Ms Woodridge said.

"He had a career for a short time and he fell in love with one of the girls that he went to school with and they had a son", his sister said, but then the illness "took over all of him" Ms Woodridge added.

Martin Wells died two days before his 26th birthday.

Read more on the infected blood inquiry

Ministers accept three-month deadline for infected blood scheme

How 175 children were infected with HIV

Creator of infected blood memorial proud of site

"Terribly sorry, your blood may be contaminated"

Ms Wells said the school's safeguarding rules should have prevented boys being treated "like guinea pigs"

Ms Woodridge and Ms Wells said they still knew many contemporaries from Treloar's College and the main thing they said they wanted for all of them was justice and recognition, "particularly that this should never have happened", Ms Wells added.

"Lots of people have died... All they had to do was treat the bloods but they didn't do it because of the cost.

"The school they went to… they were using the boys as guinea pigs. That shouldn't happen in a school... there's safeguarding things that should be there," she continued.

She said her mother "never consented to anything. There's lots of small and major things that shouldn't have happened".

The family said they also wanted an apology and for people to be held to account. "The government, within the NHS, the school settings…"

"All along, other people - professionals, lawyers - they're saying yes you are right, that shouldn't have happened... and the paper work is there to back that up.

Martin Well's sister Stella Wells said what happened to him should "never have happened"

"If not for all the campaign groups that had been working tirelessly, knocking on doors, this would not have happened

"It's made a lot of the community really angry..."

Ms Wells said it has impacted on many people's mental health, "especially Mum... it's been years you know, since '83".

"Forty years of emotional turmoil... It's been horrific," she added.

The government has said there is a moral case for compensating victims and, in November 2022, made the first interim payments of £100,000 each to about 4,000 surviving victims and their bereaved partners.

A public inquiry into the infected blood scandal, thought to be responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people, will publish its findings on 20 May.