A CAMPAIGNER who has battled for almost 20 years to discover why haemophilia sufferers became infected with HIV or hepatitis C is delighted a date for a formal inquiry into the tragedy has been set.

David Fielding was given tainted blood products in transfusions by the NHS which gave him hepatitis C and destroyed his liver.

His brother, Brian, also a haemophiliac, contracted AIDS by the same process and died in 1990.

Last month it was announced that Lord Archer of Sandwell would chair the independent inquiry, and it has now been confirmed the inquiry will start on March 27.

Mr Fielding, aged 51, of Darley Avenue, Farnworth, now hopes he will be called to give evidence to the inquiry, which he says should provide much needed answers.

The father-of-three said: "This will at last provide some closure to people. It will heal some of the hurt. It will never fully go away, but it will enable us to get on with what's left of the rest of our lives."

After being treated with contaminated blood during the 1970s and 1980s, 4,670 people were diagnosed with hepatitis C and 1,243 were told they had HIV. Just 2,552 patients with hepatitis C and 361 with HIV are still alive today.

In 1993 Mr Fielding was told he had hepatitis C and by 1995 his liver was riddled with cirrhosis. Just hours from death he was given a life-saving transplant, which has not only cured him of his liver disease, but also his haemophilia.

The inquiry will also be carried out by Lord Tunberg, past president of the Royal College of Physicians, Dr Judith Willets, chief executive officer of the British Society for Immunology and Dr Norman Jones a consultant physician at a London hospital.

It will investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy and its consequences.