Memorial unveiled at school where boys were experimented on with contaminated blood

The memorial installed at the college, near Alton, Hampshire, depicts two pupils, one with a sling and and another holding a cane, embracing each other.

Adrian Goodyear, 55, who first attended Treloar's when he was nine, said: "We couldn't believe the place we were looking at. Rolling country hills, swimming pools, canoes, a Jacobian mansion. It was just remarkable at first.

"We left school with death sentences."

Goodyear was infected with hepatitis and HIV while at the school.

"In 1985, a doctor tearfully said that I had two to three years to live," he explained.

"I was told this with five other boys and the doctor went round the room and said: 'You have… you haven't… you have… you haven't… you have got HIV'."

He said the memorial was important to keep the scandal "in the public consciousness" and to honour those who died.

He added: "When we were here we made promises… they died in front of us, one winter we lost five boys.

"I made promises to them, as did the other lads here today, that we would never give up. We would find out what happened."

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Gary Webster, 61, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C when he attended between 1975 and 1983, was called to the doctor's office one dinnertime as a child, and told he had two years to live.

He said that the memorial was important "to remember what happened and to make sure it never happens again".

Steve Nicholls, 59, who attended the school from 1976 to 1983, said the memorial "represents me 50 years ago, it represents the boys 50 years ago, it's what we were".

"It resembles the comradeship and the bonds that were formed at the college at the time," he continued.

"I have known the majority of these boys for 50 years. I went to school with them for eight years. We played together, we slept in the same dormitories as each other and we were treated together. So, we became like brothers.

"We were often referred to as blood brothers and we've stayed in contact throughout the years.

He added: "We feel incredibly guilty for surviving it and getting through it when many of our friends didn't."

Richard Warwick, who attended the school between 1976 and 1982, said the memorial was a "symbol of comradeship, friendship and support".