THE family of a young boy who died aged seven in 1990 from AIDS he had contracted as part of infected blood received from the United States have described the compensation they have received as “blood money”.
Colin Smith was a haemophiliac from Newport, who contracted AIDS after being given infected blood product Factor VIII during treatment for his condition.
His parents, Janet and Colin Sr, have been fighting for justice for their son for the past 35 years, and have described the recent interim compensation payments as “blood money” and called for people responsible for the scandal to be prosecuted.
Colin Smith died of AIDS from infected blood aged seven in 1990 (Image: Family photo) Colin Sr, 72, told the Argus that he was pleased there had finally been some “recognition” of what his family and many others had been through, but still hoped for some prosecutions in relation to what had happened.
He said: “We finally got that interim payment just before Christmas, and while it is good to finally have some recognition that a wrong had been done, I would have preferred some prosecutions.
“I don’t believe that this should have been able to happen and people get away with it, so I still have some hope that there will be some punishment. As far as we’re concerned, this interim payment is blood money.”
Colin and Janet Smith have been fighting for justice for more than three decades but say this is blood money (Image: Family photo) Mr Smith said that his son had been seen as a “number on a file” by the Government during this ongoing fight, but noted that they were among the luckier families, as some are still waiting for their interim payments.
He added: “The fight’s not over. We’ve been fighting for 35 years, and we will continue to wait for the full payments. We’ve been told the Government is looking to pick up the pace soon, and that Colin’s estate should be sorted sometime this year.”
The family have previously spoken of the horrors they faced over the years as a result of Colin’s condition, including having things thrown at their home, being verbally abused and being called the ‘Aids family’.
Colin Sr even recollected that his other sons have all experienced some form of abuse they had not told their parents about until adulthood.
He said: “My boys have all had to live through that, so they deserve this as much as we do. The money will go to them and their children – Colin should have been here with his children just the same, but that opportunity was taken from him.
“We want his brothers to be able to live the lives they deserve after how much they’ve been through. My wife and I are both in our twilight years now, and we want to be able to relax and not have to fight the system for justice.”
The payments will go to help Colin’s brothers and their children, with his parents finally hoping they can spend their twilight years no longer fighting the system (Image: Family photo) The Cabinet Office is responsible for the interim compensation payments while the full compensation is the responsibility of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (ICBA).
Mr Smith said a panel would decide how much the family were entitled to and it would be different to an adult due to the loss of earnings.
It is understood that the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) aims to make compensation offers to around 250 people by the end of the year, but Mr Smith says this is just another example of the Government “dragging their feet”.
Cabinet minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has previously committed to ensuring the compensation is completed as swiftly as possible, and ensuring that families will receive the money they are entitled to.
The UK government has set aside £11.8bn to compensate victims of the scandal – payments are exempt from tax and will not affect benefits.
The final amounts are being assessed against five criteria: harm, social impact from stigma and isolation, impact on autonomy and private life, care costs and financial loss.
David Foley, interim chief executive of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority said: “The infected blood community has been denied answers, justice and support for too long, and now is the time for transparency and action.
“Every single compensation claim is unique with complex circumstances. That is why we have started with a small number of people making the first compensation claims, building and improving the claim service as we go.”