Victims of the infected blood scandal have restarted legal action against the government, with their lawyer claiming there was a 'misfeasance in public office'. It concerns US-imported blood-clotting products which caused haemophiliacs and others to be infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1970s and 80s. A 2,527-page report by Sir Brian Langstaff found the scandal could 'largely have been avoided' and there was a 'pervasive' cover-up to hide the truth.
The report found children were used as 'objects for research' while the risks of contracting hepatitis and HIV were ignored, and of the 122 pupils with haemophilia that attended the school between 1970 and 1987, only 30 are still alive. Survivors, known as the Treloar's boys, said in a joint statement 'there is nothing honourable about what happened' at the school, calling on former headmaster Alexander Macpherson to 'do the right thing' and return his OBE.