EXCLUSIVE: Andy Burnham calls for charges against officials in infected blood scandal

Officials are set to face corporate manslaughter charges for the deaths of up to 3,000 people due to tainted blood, a judge has heard.

Former Health Secretary Andy Burnham was applauded by victims and their relatives when he told a public inquiry: 'I think the Department of Health and the bodies to which it is responsible have been grossly negligent about the safety of the haemophilia community in this country. From there, I would say it is even possible that the CPS will be asked to look into the manslaughter charges."

He cited evidence of potential criminal offences, where victims had their diagnosis concealed for 17 years, and another where a teetotaler with liver disease was labeled a "chronic alcoholic" in medical notes.

Altering medical records is a criminal offense (

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He added, "I don't say this lightly...I have a lot of respect for the DoH folks, but I think on this issue they were fundamentally wrong from the start, from 1970s. ."

Now Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham testified to his brief spell in charge of health care before Labor lost power in 2010 and how he came to believe there was 'a criminal cover-up at industrial scale" in Whitehall.

Infected blood and blood products were given to an unknown number of people in the 1970s and 1980s, with 5,000 hemophiliacs developing HIV and hepatitis C. About 3,000 are believed to have died.

A public inquiry, now in its fourth year, showed evidence given to Mr Burnham by activists, proving that DoH officials knew as early as 1982 that imported blood products were capable of carrying a deadly disease.