TAINTED-BLOOD victims and their families won the right to launch a High Court action for damages yesterday.

A High Court judge has dismissed government attempts to stave of the suit and paved the way for 500 claimants to sue.

The Factor 8 Campaign group said the case concerns commercial products derived from blood plasma that caused haemophiliacs and others to be infected with HIV and hepatitis in the 1970s and ’80s and led to thousands of deaths.

Newly discovered documents suggest that in 1980 Department of Health officials knew there was a high risk of contamination yet continued to use the dangerous Factor 8 product for five years.

Solicitor Des Collins, who is representing the campaign, said: “The recent announcement of a public inquiry into these matters [in July] has at last indicated some willingness on the part of government to address the claimants’ concerns.

“Against this background it is regrettable that [Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt] has not chosen to do so in these civil proceedings.”