DAVID Fielding hopes to move a step closer to discovering how haemophilia sufferers became infected with hepatitis C or HIV during the 1970s and 1980s.

The 51-year-old will give evidence to an independent inquiry, chaired by the former Solicitor General Lord Archer, which convenes in London today.

Mr Fielding, of Darley Avenue, Farnworth, a haemophiliac, suffered severe liver damage after contracting hepatitis C from contaminated blood during a routine transfusion.

He needed a liver transplant to survive but his brother, Brian, also a haemophiliac, contracted AIDS from contaminated blood and died in 1990.

Mr Fielding said: "Mentally it hit me hard to hear I had been infected. I thought I was dying and I had young children to think of. "I still find it hard to visit my brother's grave because it hurts so much.

"I have been seeking answers for 20 years. Hopefully this inquiry will provide them."

Contaminated blood was responsible for 4,670 people being diagnosed with hepatitis C and 1,243 contracting HIV 1970s and 1980s. Over 3,000 have since died.

The inquiry has been convened after years of lobbying by the Haemophilia Society.