Memorial for pupils contaminated with HIV and hepatitis

A memorial has been created at a school where boys were experimented on and infected with HIV and hepatitis.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Lord Mayor Treloar School and College in Hampshire offered specialist care for children with haemophilia but pupils received medical treatments using contaminated blood products.

Of the 122 pupils with haemophilia that attended the school, only about 30 were still alive when the Infected Blood Public Inquiry published its report into the scandal in 2024.

It highlighted how "very few" of the pupils with haemophilia that attended the school between 1970 and 1987 "escaped being infected".

It said children were treated as "objects for research" and were experimented on without their knowledge by NHS clinicians, who knew the dangers it posed.

The memorial installed at the college, near Alton, Hampshire, depicts two pupils, one with a sling and and another holding a cane, embracing each other.

Adrian Goodyear, 55, who first attended Treloar's when he was nine, said: "We couldn't believe the place we were looking at. Rolling country hills, swimming pools, canoes, a Jacobian mansion. It was just remarkable at first.

"We left school with death sentences."

Goodyear was infected with hepatitis and HIV while at the school.

"In 1985, a doctor tearfully said that I had two to three years to live," he explained.

"I was told this with five other boys and the doctor went round the room and said: 'You have… you haven't… you have… you haven't… you have got HIV'."

He said the memorial was important to keep the scandal "in the public consciousness" and to honour those who died.

He added: "When we were here we made promises… they died in front of us, one winter we lost five boys.

"I made promises to them, as did the other lads here today, that we would never give up. We would find out what happened."

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Gary Webster, 61, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C when he attended between 1975 and 1983, was called to the doctor's office one dinnertime as a child, and told he had two years to live.

He said that the memorial was important "to remember what happened and to make sure it never happens again".

Steve Nicholls, 59, who attended the school from 1976 to 1983, said the memorial "represents me 50 years ago, it represents the boys 50 years ago, it's what we were".

"It resembles the comradeship and the bonds that were formed at the college at the time," he continued.

"I have known the majority of these boys for 50 years. I went to school with them for eight years. We played together, we slept in the same dormitories as each other and we were treated together. So, we became like brothers.

"We were often referred to as blood brothers and we've stayed in contact throughout the years.

He added: "We feel incredibly guilty for surviving it and getting through it when many of our friends didn't."

Richard Warwick, who attended the school between 1976 and 1982, said the memorial was a "symbol of comradeship, friendship and support".

Former pupils have sought legal action against the school's trust in the High Court.

Martin Ingram, CEO of the Treloar Trust, said: "We have been pleased to support our former students to deliver a public memorial dedicated to former Treloar pupils and have provided land, logistical and financial support to ensure that all those impacted at Treloar's are remembered.

"The creation of a permanent public tribute is of immense importance to the school and wider community.

"The bronze sculpture provides a fitting and lasting tribute to the young people whose lives were so tragically impacted by infected blood products."

The inquiry found that medical research was carried out at Treloar's "to an extent which appears unparalleled elsewhere".

In his report Sir Brian Langstaff said it had "left long scars, not only in this Hampshire community but across the UK".

Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, said: "Today is about remembering the real-life consequences of responsibilities, at a local and state level."

Rachel Halford, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, said the government should "reconsider why they have set such a pitifully low sum of £60,000 to compensate them for the unethical research undertaken on them".

A government spokesperson said: "Victims of the infected blood scandal have suffered a terrible injustice and we remain committed to ensuring they receive the support and compensation they deserve.

"This payment is only part of a wider comprehensive compensation package that an eligible person would be entitled to.

"The government has listened and learned through engagement with the community to make changes to the compensation scheme to ensure the community receive the compensation they deserve."

The BBC understands the government has paid more than £1.4bn in interim compensation payments, while the Infected Blood Compensation Authority has paid more than £2.2bn.

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