Contaminated blood pupils to appeal court ruling

Former boarding school pupils who received medical treatments using contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s intend to appeal against a court ruling.

Former pupils of the Lord Mayor Treloar School and College in Hampshire, which at the time was a boarding school for children with haemophilia, are seeking legal action against its trust in the High Court.

But Judge David Cook declined to make an order to manage the claims together, finding the affected were not a "homogeneous group".

The claimants' legal team said they "remain determined to hold the school to account for the wrongs of the past".

At least 72 children died after being given a drug contaminated with HIV and viral hepatitis at the school.

At a hearing last month, lawyers for the former pupils and their relatives said the cases should be managed together, while lawyers for the trust said the best way for the former pupils to be compensated will be through the government's Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

Judge Cook said that if multiple claims were brought by 63 potential claimants, their cases could be consolidated.

"I am, however, far from satisfied that 63 claims will materialise having regard to the imminent approval and implementation of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

"In the event that any potential claimant were to be able to make out a case that they had not received proper compensation, such claims could proceed efficiently and proportionately under court's ordinary powers of case management."

"It is important that it should be understood this does not mean the court is preventing these potential claims from being progressed or is indicating any view upon the merits of the potential claims.

"In the event that any of the individual claimants wish to issue a claim, there is absolutely nothing to prevent them from doing so."

Des Collins, a legal adviser to the claimants, said they were "surprised and disappointed" by Tuesday's judgment, which they intend to appeal.

"It cannot be right that the treatment of former pupils as guinea pigs by Treloar's in the 70s and 80s goes without sanction

"Treloar's should not breathe a sigh of relief just yet since my clients remain determined to hold the school to account for the wrongs of the past."

Reading a statement on the trust's behalf, Toby Riley-Smith KC said it was "so sorry" that many former pupils were among the affected.

"It is so sorry that as a result, they and their loved ones have suffered so much, and for so long.

"It is so sorry that they have been victims of this tragedy, which Sir Brian Langstaff has described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, a tragedy that has been compounded by the fact that it has taken so long for their plight to be recognised."

After the judgment, a spokesperson for Treloar's said: "We firmly believe that the best route for our former students to receive timely and substantial recompense is via the government compensation scheme.

"We urge the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to pay the levels of compensation that have already been set as soon as possible."

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