Contaminated blood scandal: Judge warns there could be thousands more victims as inquiry gets underway

Tens of thousands of Brits could be infected as a result of the contaminated blood scandal, the former judge leading an inquiry has suggested.

A public probe will consider the treatment of thousands of people in the 1970s and 1980s who were given blood products infected with hepatitis viruses and HIV, and the impact this has had.

Chairman of the inquiry, retired judge Sir Brian Langstaff, addressed the hundreds of people who attended the start of the Infected Blood Inquiry in London on Monday.

"It is a truly sobering thought that if some of the claims are well-founded - and it is for this inquiry to find out if they are - there may yet be many thousands more who do not feel well, but have not yet been told that the reason for this is that they suffer from Hepatitis C," he said.

Sir Brian said it is estimated that the number of infected could go far beyond 25,000 adding that there is a "real chance that these estimates may prove right".

He added: "A sobering thought that the consequences of what was done then may be continuing to cause death even now."

Victim Michelle Tolley spoke as the probe into the deaths of more than 2,400 people who were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C as a result of the scandal began.

"Anyone who may be responsible... they need to be held accountable and prosecuted if needs be - I strongly believe that," the mother-of-four said.

"People need to know that this tragedy happened," she said. "This is the worst tragedy in the history of the NHS and it must never ever happen again, absolutely never."

The 53-year-old was infected following a blood transfusion after the birth of her child in 1987 and another transfusion in 1991 - she eventually found out in 2015 that she had Hepatitis C.

Sir Brian told those gathered that people will be at the heart of the inquiry, as well as ensuring it is properly funded, and independent of the Government.

He also revealed that the inquiry will be UK-wide and will not confine itself to London.

And with allegations of a cover-up, which he said will be investigated, Sir Brian stressed that the probe will be as "open and transparent as it is legally possible to be".

Counsel to the inquiry Jenni Richards QC said it will likely hear from government ministers, with witness statements from senior politicians including successive secretaries of state for health, as well as senior civil servants and senior doctors involved in policy setting and decision making.

"We anticipate that a number of such witnesses will be expected to give oral evidence, and thus be questioned publicly for the first time about their decisions and actions," she said.

She added: "This inquiry cannot reverse or undo what has happened, but the inquiry team will do everything it reasonably can to provide the answers to the questions that have been sought for so long."

Prime Minister Theresa May announced in July last year that an inquiry would be held into the events over the two decades, when thousands of haemophiliacs and other patients in the UK were given infected blood products.

The inquiry continues on Tuesday.

Reporting by Press Association