derek martindale was the first to give evidence today. he'd been infected with hiv at the age of 23. i went at lunchtime to get the results and i was told that i was hiv positive. erm... i was told i had about a year to live. i was told not to tell anybody, including... excuse me. ..including my family and my parents. the enquiry team have scanned the country for official files. there are millions of documents to be reviewed in the search for answers, not least to the question, was there a cover—up? documents have been destroyed. we know that for certain. and so there is a question of how much we'll be able to reveal, but for the first time this enquiry actually has teeth. it's a statutory enquiry and we'll be able to summon witnesses and compel people to produce evidence, which is hugely important. the road to justice has been a long one. tho5e affected have been demanding this enquiry for decades and it's likely to take several years. campaigners say that another victim dies from infected blood every four days. richard li5ter, bbc news.

today, the inquiry heard from derek martindale, both he and his brother had haemophilia and were givennchtime to get the results and i was told that i was hiv positive. i was told i had about a year to live. and i was told not to tell anybody. including, excuse me, including my family and my parents. and you were 23 years old then, i think? yes. it's a bit of a oxymoron in the sense that when you are young you are invincible. you when you are 23, you are generally fit, but then you are told you have 12 months to live. it's very hard to comprehend that. so there was the fear, it became very more prominent in the media and the government health warnings that aids was a killer and we were all going to die, but again i guess there is the confidence of youth that, i can't believe this is going to happen to me. you mentioned your brother richard, he was also infected with hiv. yes. again as a direct result of the infected products he'd been given for his treatment for haemophilia. yes, is one of the things i have always wondered, being possibly genetically very similar, why our, why things w

derek martindale was the first to give evidence today.called finding out he had been infected with hiv at the age of 23. i went at lunchtime to get the result and i was told that i was hiv positive. i was told i had about a year to live. i was told not to tell anybody. including, excuse me, including my family and my parents. the enquiry team have scoured the country for official files. there are millions of documents to be reviewed in the search for answers. not least to the question, was there a cover—up? documents have been destroyed. we know that for certain. and so there is a question of how much we will be able to reveal. but for the first time this enquiry has teeth, it will be able to summon two witnesses and compel people to give evidence, which is hugely important. the road to justice has evidence, which is hugely important. the road tojustice has been evidence, which is hugely important. the road to justice has been a evidence, which is hugely important. the road tojustice has been a long one. it is likely to take several yea r

derek martindale was the first to give evidence today. finding out he had been infected with hiv at the age of 23. i went at lunchtime to get the results and i was told that i was hiv positive. i was told i had about a year to live. i was told not to tell anybody. including, excuse me, including my family and my parents. the inquiry saw notes on another patient infected with hiv in 1984 who wasn't told about it for more than a year. do you recall giving any consent to being tested for hiv at that time? no. do you recall the outcome of any tests being communicated to you at that time? no. when was it that you were told that you had tested positive? i think it was in august '85. the inquiry team have scanned the country for official files. there are millions of documents to be reviewed in the search for answers. not least to the question, was there a cover—up? documents have been destroyed. we know that for certain. and so there is a question of how much we will be able to reveal. but for the first time, this inquiry actually has teeth, it

let's listen to derek martindale, whose blood was infected.t witness speaking at the inquiry. he is speaking. he is not speaking right now, but we expect to hear from him at any moment. let's listen in and see what is happening now. that looks like a record of blood transfusions discussed. and here we have a 1984. receiving different types of blood products, nhs eight and then arm eight. and then if we go to the next page. this should come up another extract from your records, derek. next page. thank you. and if you could highlight, please, 1985 and 1984. do you see there, derek, the extra ct of 1984. do you see there, derek, the extract of your records which summarises the blood products which you were receiving, in particular in 1984 and 1985? ido, 1984 and 1985? i do, yes. could i ask you to tell the enquiry what illnesses you were infected with as a result of being a given that those blood products. hiv and hepatitis c. it is right to think you don't know the precise date of your infection 01’ the precise date of your infection or widely p