Hampshire schoolboys impacted by infected blood scandal 'determined' to seek accountability
They are seeking compensation over claims that their Alton school gave them unlawful treatments involving contaminated blood products
Former pupils of a Hampshire boarding school who received medical treatments using contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s are "determined" to hold the school to account, part of their legal team has said.
Several former pupils of the Lord Mayor Treloar School and College in Alton, which at the time was a boarding school for children with haemophilia, want to take legal action against the Treloar Trust, which operates the site.
They are seeking compensation over claims that the school gave them unlawful treatments involving contaminated blood products, which infected them with a variety of diseases including HIV and Hepatitis A, B and C, without their or their parents' knowledge.
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.
And in a judgment on Tuesday, Judge David Cook declined to make an order to manage the claims together, known as a group litigation order, finding that those affected are not a "homogeneous group".
He continued: "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."
Judge Cook added that if multiple claims were brought by 63 potential claimants, their cases could be consolidated.
He added: "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."
Following the ruling, Des Collins, a legal adviser to the claimants, said they were "surprised and disappointed" by Tuesday's judgment, which they intend to appeal against.
Mr Collins added: "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."
At last month's hearing, barristers for the trust apologised to former pupils in attendance, stating it was "acutely aware of the pain and suffering and the loss" they had endured.
Reading a statement on the trust's behalf, Toby Riley-Smith KC said it was "so sorry" that many former pupils "were among those infected with hepatitis and HIV, as a result of treatment with contaminated blood products".
He said: "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: "After careful consideration of the evidence, the judge has decided not to make a GLO.
"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."