'Please don't let them get away with it': Dying wish of Manchester victim of infected blood scandal as loved ones demand compensation

Victims of the infected blood scandal have implored the government to recognise their suffering and to use next week's budget to launch a compensation scheme.

Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s in what is considered to be the NHS’s biggest treatment disaster.

The Infected Blood Inquiry, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, which is due to publish its final report in May, made its final recommendations on compensation for victims and their loved ones in April last year.

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The Government has previously been accused of dragging its feet over compensation and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was heckled when he appeared before the inquiry last year as he vowed to pay compensation "as swiftly as possible". Today (Wednesday), campaigners staged a demonstration in Westminster on Wednesday calling for urgent action.

Claire Dixon, whose mother Nora Worthington was infected with HIV in 1991, said her mother urged her to keep up the fight for recognition before her death in 1993. "Before she passed away she said, 'Please don't let them get away with it'," said Ms Dixon.

Speaking from College Green, London, she said: "My mother was given three pints of blood for a perforated ulcer, one of the pints was infected with HIV. For me personally, it is about the recognition. It isn't about the money. No amount of money could ever bring my mother back."

As a single parent, Mrs Worthington has not yet been recognised by the Government for compensation, Ms Dixon said. She added: "My mother didn't have a partner and her life has not been recognised."

Sue Sparkes, 65, from Cardiff, said her