Next in your next hour. Well, the show always a delight to have your company 40 years in the making. Delay after delay, a systemic cover up, failures by the Civil Service, failures by the Civil Service, failures by the nhs, potentially its biggest ever scandal today was a momentous and emotional victory for those who put so much energy and effort into their campaigning work to see justice for those of the infected blood scandal. Ill be joined by campaigners, those infected themselves and also those who lost family members. How did this happen . How can we make sure it never happens again . And will those people be compensated adequately . Of course, some have passed away and some of those who assisted with the cover up will now never face justice, as they have also died. A huge talking point and lots of fun in the show too. Were cross into the show too. Were cross into ireland to hook up with some campaign goers who just stopped a migrant camp from going ahead. Real inspiring act of people power. Get in touch the usual ways gb news. Com forward slash your say. But for all of that, its your say. But for all of that, wsfime your say. But for all of that, its time for your latest News Headlines. And its tatiana sanchez. Martin thank you. The top stories this hour. The infected blood inquiry has found there was a deliberate destruction of documents by government officials, and the scandal could have largely been avoided had the final report documented a catalogue of failures which had catastrophic consequences with patients knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection. Unacceptable risks of infection. More than 30,000 people were infected with hiv and hepatitis c between 1970 and the early 90s by contaminated blood products and transfusions. The inquiry and transfusions. The inquiry also found children were used as objects for research , with the objects for research, with the risks ignored at a Specialist School where boys were treated for haemophilia. The inquirys chair, sir Brian Langstaff, says the damage is still happening. The damage is still happening. Lets keep on happening week by week. What ive found is that that disaster was no accident. People put their trust in doctors and the government to keep them safe, and that trust was betrayed. And then the was betrayed. And then the government compounded the agony by telling them that nothing wrong had been done , that theyd wrong had been done, that theyd had the best available treatment , and that as soon as tests were available , they were introduced. Available, they were introduced. And both of those statements were untrue. Were untrue. Victims say theyve been waiting decades to be heard. Waiting decades to be heard. Sometimes we felt like we were shouting into the wind dunng were shouting into the wind during these 40 years when we told people they didnt believe us, they said this wouldnt happenin us, they said this wouldnt happen in the uk, but today proves that it can happen in the uk. And it did happen in the uk and i just feel validated and vindicated. Vindicated. I think everybody today has read of the, disasters that unfolded and sir brian has been very thorough and, and has not minced his words. This was a systemic this was by government, by Civil Servants and by health care professionals. I think that really rocks what we think of as society and really challenges the fact , the really challenges the fact, the trust that we put in people to look after to us, do their best and protect us, none of that can we take for granted anymore. We take for granted anymore. Julian assange has won a legal bid to bring an appeal against his extradition to the United States. The High Court Ruled that us assurances over his case were unsatisfactory , his case were unsatisfactory, and he would get a full appeal hearing. The wikileaks founder faces prosecution in the us over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose National Defence information after the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the afghanistan and iraq wars. Mr assanges wife is calling on the us to drop what she says is a shameful case. The judges reached the right decision. We spent a long time decision. We spent a long time heanng decision. We spent a long time hearing the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges did not buy it as a family , we are relieved. But how family, we are relieved. But how long can this go on . The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. And drop this case now. Iran has confirmed the countrys president , Ebrahim Raisi, and his foreign minister were killed in a Helicopter Crash, footage obtained by iranian media shows the crash site on a mountainside. Harsh weather conditions hampered efforts by search teams, but the wreckage was eventually located in the East Azerbaijan province. In the East Azerbaijan province. Irans Supreme Leader has declared five days of National Mourning. An election for a new mourning. An election for a new president is due to take place in the next 50 days. Ofcom has found gb news broke broadcasting rules in a programme featuring the Prime Minister. The regulator says the peoples forum, which aired in february, failed to preserve due impartiality and its now considering a sanction for. In a statement, gb news described the development as alarming and an attempt to silence the channel. It says the format placed the pubuc it says the format placed the public not journalists, in charge of questioning rishi sunak, and he was challenged and criticised on a number of issues. It maintains the programme was in line with the broadcasting code. And a new broadcasting code. And a new coin marking 80 years since the d day landings, has been unveiled by the royal mint to mark the release, two sand artists recreated the design on gold beach, where troops landed in 1944 with a diameter of 35m. The sand art took 5. 5 hours to create the design of the tails or reverse side of the £0. 50 coin was revealed ahead of the anniversary on the 6th of june. For the latest stories , sign up for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news comment alerts now its back to. Martin. Its back to. Martin. Thank you tatiana. Now there really is only one big story to discuss today and its absolutely huge. The inquiry into the biggest treatment disaster in the nhs history has concluded that the infected blood scandal could largely have been avoided. It was also found that there was a pervasive cover up to hide the truth. More than 3000 people died as a result of this scandal. Im joined now by gb News Reporter charlie peters, and also from later in the show by theresa cobbledick, whose stepmother corinne was infected with hiv and hepatitis c, and im lets go to katherine forster. Whos with me in the forster. Whos with me in the studio . Catherine. The report took five long years in the making, but really , the detail making, but really, the detail shows that there was enough evidence to proceed with this. In the 1980s, the press conference with the victims was hugely emotional moment a short while ago, a systemic, unprecedented 40 year cover up with some victims talking about the deliberate destruction of records, not just medical records, not just medical records , but records in records, but records in Government Departments and absolutely huge scandal. Yes, i think we always expected that this Public Inquiry, the report , would be inquiry, the report, would be damning when it came some 2500 pages of it, years in the making. But i think its even beyond perhaps what many people were expecting. What sir Brian Langstaff has uncovered talking about a subtle, pervasive and chilling cover up. Talking about, he says, the deliberate destruction of documents within the department of health, talking about in the case of the boarding school for children with haemophilia, talking about using children as objects for research , the risks to them research, the risks to them being ignored , nothing to do being ignored, nothing to do with what was in their interest. They were being exposed , they were being exposed, cemented on without their knowledge and without their consent. And also, and for me, consent. And also, and for me, this is the most shocking of all that most of this could have been avoided because the risks were known. Now i knew that by the mid 80s and bear in mind this this infected blood was given to people between 1970 to 1991. By the mid 80s there were a lot of warnings floating around. But sir Brian Langstaff says that the World Health Organisation guidance back in 1952 laid out four key measures for reducing the risks of transmitting haemophilia through blood or plasma and in every case, britain did not act on those recommendations. So he said if they had have done and that was information out there, 20 years before the beginning of this, that most of these deaths could have been avoided. So he said it could largely , though said it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided. Not entirely, have been avoided. And i have to report that it should have been. Should have been. And some of the human stories that youve encountered , that youve encountered, catherine, i know, theyre incredibly emotional. Took you around the boys at the school. Can you share that story with us . Its one that really, really sort of got me choked earlier on today. Yes. There was a little boy called colin smith, and he had haemophilia when he was two. He went in for a very routine ear operation, and he was given a transfusion , and he was infected transfusion, and he was infected with aids and he died of aids at seven at the point at which he died, he weighed the same as a four month old baby and his family were vilified. And just a little bit earlier, i was talking at to another of the victims that was here and through march, he was diagnosed with aids. Age nine, and he was talking about the effect on his life , on his family, that the life, on his family, that the head teacher in his school had said, oh, do we have to disinfect the whole school that, you know, people were horrible. They were scared. There was such they were scared. There was such a stigma. And these are kids. It it really is just unimaginable what these people have been through. What do we think is going to happen next . There were calls obviously not just of culpability but of compensation. Also the people at the conference earlier, the representatives of the victims , representatives of the victims, some of whom had lost family members themselves, they were saying also the Civil Service was culpable in this cover up. And also the pharmaceutical companies. Theres still a far companies. Theres still a far reaching expanse of where this has yet to go. Has yet to go. Yes, absolutely. So in the short term now , theres this short term now, theres this huge report to digest. The Prime Minister rishi sunak will be making an apology, which i expect to be quite profound in the house of commons later on behalf of all the government failings over decades , there failings over decades, there will be a Compensation Scheme. We expect to be announced tomorrow. Upwards of £10 billion in compensation and then potentially early, prosecutions, because andy burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has said that this was a criminal cover up on an industrial scale, clearly there were individuals that knew what was going on that destroyed evidence, that didnt listen to advice. Shouldnt people be held to account . Its happenedin people be held to account . Its happened in other countries. But of course, some of these events are going back a long time. A lot of these people, no longer alive. But just one more point. People sometimes think of this as something that happened a long time ago. And as sir Brian Langstaff has said, this is a scandal thats still happening because people are still dying two a week and its shattered so many families lives. Thank you, for catherine, joining us. Please stay with us. And if you want to ask a question to my next guest, please do, because im now joined by the former Health Secretary, stephen dorrell. Stephen, welcome to the show. A report five years in the making, a damning report, one that, says quite clear the evidence could and should have been picked up in the 1980s and now the blame game starts and the Political Class , certainly in the firing class, certainly in the firing line today, with those at the victims press conferences, once one victim said the politicians involved in this, they should hang their heads in shame. Whats your take on that . Well, i think i agree with the word shame. I think its shaming to all of those of us who passed through the department of health in those years , although we did ask years, although we did ask questions, we clearly didnt ask the right questions or we didnt pursue them as as far and as effectively as we should have done, the answers we were given, were that the care that was provided to these people was the best that was available at the time. That was quite simply untrue. And we shouldnt we should have found that out in my case 40 years ago. And, one particular comment that keeps being uttered is that Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister in the early days of this, said that people were receiving the best possible care , available to them at the time. And one of the victims today said, we now know that that was simply untrue. Theres widespread allegations that politicians, the nhs, civil, Civil Servants closing ranks to protect themselves and of course, many of those involved have now passed away and will never face justice. How far do you think this should go . Should people be prosecuted, perhaps for manslaughter . For manslaughter . Well, i think there are two questions. The prosecution is a criminal, is takes place under the criminal law and if it can be shown on the basis of evidence that individuals were guilty of deliberate criminal acts or of criminal negligence, thats a matter for the prosecution authorities. I think the policy question is , why is the policy question is, why is it that in our country we so often find ourselves looking back and finding that things should have happened differently, and it takes far too long for evidence to come to light to see where the mistakes were made and what was done wrong. The french Prime Minister wrong. The french Prime Minister 20 years ago was under pressure on infected blood in france. Why on infected blood in france. Why doesit on infected blood in france. Why does it take 20 years longer in this country than it does in france . Stephen, do you think theres an issue of the nhs closing ranks that still exists to this day . Weve seen in these last few days a culture of whistleblowing in the nhs , where whistleblowing in the nhs, where peoples careers have been destroyed, Health Practitioners speaking out about malpractice, fearful of doing so. Do we have an unhealthy situation in the nhs where its almost sacred and any criticism of it is hushed away or or or scared away . And away or or or scared away . And in that sense, god forbid, because Something Like this ever still happen again . Still happen again . Well, sadly, this isnt the first time ive sat as a former Health Secretary talking about what are shameful failures of the quality of care provided by the quality of care provided by the nhs. I think its always the nhs. I think its always important to remind ourselves that the vast majority of people who work in the Health Service do their best. Theyre committed, professional people, but what is undoubtedly what is repeatedly true is that failures of the quality of care, failures of the quality of care, failures of Health Service, professional staff to deliver high quality care , have come to light too care, have come to light too many times. We think of mid staffordshire, we think of the Morecambe Bay babies scandal. We think more recently of, maternity issues that were under discussion. Only a couple of weeks ago. The Health Service is not good at asking itself difficult questions at difficult times, and it urgently needs to review its internal procedures to improve on that. That is part of good medicine and good science. Science. And stephen, of course, you cannot put a price on compensating those who lost loved ones, those whose health, whose careers, whose reputations, particularly through hiv , has been destroyed through hiv, has been destroyed for all of this time. Nevertheless its a compensation package seems to be coming into place around about £10 billion. We are, of course, £2. 7 trillion in debt. But really we must in debt. But really we must press ahead with that compensation , must we . Not these compensation, must we . Not these people. They deserve to be compensated for whats happened to them. Theres no good setting up a pubuc theres no good setting up a Public Inquiry and then, concluding that you second guess the recommendations that it makes. I think sir Brian Langstaff has spent, as you said, five years looking at the background to this, hes unearthed a scandal at the heart of British Health