'This is your report...The words come from you and your stories'

SIR Brian Langstaff was given a standing ovation by blood scandal victims and campaigners yesterday as they were finally delivered justice.

- Robert Kellaway

For six years, the Infected Blood Inquiry chairman's unshakeable determination to uncover the truth and the shameful cover-up that followed kept the families' hopes alive.

The former High Court judge's reaction to their applause yesterday was typical instead turning the praise to those who had told how the scandal wrecked their lives.

Sir Brian, 76, said: "You're applauding the wrong people. This is your report. The words come from you and your stories." He said in a statement: "For everyone involved, the evidence given to this inquiry has been difficult to listen to. That is an understatement.

"It has been hard for those centrally involved, and must have been hard for many observing.

"But it has been much harder still for those who were recounting their own experiences. Or listening to stories which touched a nerve, which brought back memories they would rather have forgotten, but brought themselves to tell the inquiry because their truth important to tell.