FOR a man living with a death sentence, Glenn Wilkinson tells his story in a calm and rational way.

But when he remembers how he couldn't comfort his children when they fell off their bikes and grazed their knees in case he infected them with a deadly blood virus, his face crumples and he's unable to speak.

Glenn Wilkinson is one of almost 4,800 patients infected with Hepatitis C after he was given contaminated blood in what has been described by health expert Lord Robert Winston as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".

"The Government has tried to bury this at every opportunity," says Mr Wilkinson. "I have seen people die while the Government does nothing for us and we are very, very angry."

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, 4,670 patients contracted Hepatitis C and 1,243 of those also contracted HIV, the virus leading to Aids, after they were given contaminated blood products during NHS treatments. Almost 200 non-haemophiliacs were also infected. Since then, about 2,000 patients have died.

The contaminated blood came from US "skid row" donors, such as prison inmates, drug addicts, prostitutes or other high-risk groups, paid by US pharmaceutical firms to donate blood for "factor concentrates" used to treat haemophilia, an inherited, lifelong condition affecting blood clotting.

Campaigners say the pharmaceutical companies harvested contaminated blood from the cheapest possible sources to make as much of the product as possible to satisfy worldwide demand, raking in huge profits. Blood from high-risk groups was mixed with other donations, contaminating thousands of units of blood then shipped around the world, including Britain.

At 19, Glenn went into Hull Royal Infirmary to have three teeth removed under general anaesthetic. Suffering haemophilia, any medical procedure was risky.

Under anaesthetic, he was given "factor VIII", then viewed as the "Holy Grail" for helping blood clot in haemophiliacs.

When he was given a blood test in 1995, 12 years later, doctors revealed he had contracted Hepatitis C through the contaminated factor VIII.

"I'd gone in my lunch hour because there was no warning of what was to come," he says. "I was told the natural progression is cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer and death.

"There's nothing to say it's going to happen in a week or ten years. Every time I have a test, I live with the worry of waiting for the phone call or the letter coming through the door."

Married with two children, he knew his wife and children had also been exposed to the virus because he hadn't known about it.

"We were lucky because I didn't infect my wife and children," he says. "Others haven't been so lucky."

A photograph of one of his friends, a leading campaigner in the Tainted Blood movement, sits on his mantelpiece. "That's Haydn Lewis," he says. "He infected his wife with HIV because he didn't know. He's dead now."

For years, he struggled on, his health failing until he was finally forced to give up his job as an engineer in 1999.

"People do feel ashamed, if that's the right word, because they are fearful of a backlash or bad reaction," he says.

"The majority don't talk about it and keep it from friends and family. I was the same. I didn't tell the children or parents, my employers or neighbours for years."

Last year, he was given the same drugs used in chemotherapy treatment. But he suffered such an adverse reaction, including a skin rash which caused bleeding scars, he's been told there's no treatment left to help him.

"There's nothing else," he says. "My virus is just left to run riot now and do its worst."

In Ireland, which also used contaminated blood, the Government has paid about £500,000 compensation to victims, issued them with priority medical cards and underwrites insurance policies and mortgages.

British victims, including Glenn, want the same justice.

"I'm sure it would be nice having lots of noughts in your bank account, but when you are desperately ill, it's not the money that matters," he says. "We want a financial package that will allow us to pay our mortgages and those things we would have been able to pay for ourselves, had we been able to.

"I had a full-time job, a company car, an expense account. Now, my job prospects are non-existent."

More than anything, the victims want an apology from the British Government.

"They have never given us any kind of apology," Glenn says. "No one has said sorry. At least that would really heal some wounds and give us the closure we need."