Colin Smith: Family share son's heartbreaking final words

Colin and Janet Smith, from Newport, lost their son Colin in 1990 after he was given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis C transported from prisoners in the US to treat his haemophilia. 

More than 30 years after the tragedy, his parents and family have revealed his final words as he lay in a hospital bed. 

Turning to his father in severe pain, Colin uttered his last words "I can't see daddy", before he passed away. 

Colin Smith's final words were I can't see Daddy (Image: Smith family)A BBC investigation, made into a documentary called 'Blood Money' that aired last night on BBC One Wales, revealed that the doctor responsible for treating Colin had broken his own rules when giving Colin the infected blood products Factor VIII. 

A letter revealed that Professor Arthur Bloom had written internal NHS guidelines just three months before treating Colin in 1983 that advised against using imported blood treatments on children due to the infection risk. 

Janet and Colin Smith have been fighting for more than 40 years as part of the infected blood inquiry to get answers and justice for their son and the thousands of others that have died as a result of this scandal. 

Mr Smith said the situation "wasn't an accident" and could have easily been avoided". 

They believe their son was being experimented on, like an animal, with the new heat-treated Factor VIII product, despite no human trials having been completed. 

Colin and Janet Smith have been fighting for more than 40 years to get justice for their son (Image: Family photo)Colin's father has claimed doctors were playing "Russian roulette with people's lives" with these experiments.  

To make the horrific situation worse, Mrs Smith recalled how they were told about their son's HIV in a hospital corridor, with no preparation for what they were about to hear that would turn their lives upside down. 

She said: "We were never taken to a room, we were told in the middle of the corridor, parents running after their kids, little kiddies running past us, and I can remember getting really upset but I don't know why because it was never explained that it was a death sentence."

Mr and Mrs Smith have previously spoken out about their frustration with the continued delay to the compensation they have been promised. 

During the height of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, the Smith family were faced with significant prejudice and discrimination towards their family, including having the words 'Aids dead' daubed across their house in black paint. 

Dubbed the 'Aids family' by the community in Newport, Colin's brothers were bullied and ostracised by other children, while Mr Smith found he was "unemployable". 

The Smith family faced severe discrimination from the local community after Colin was diagnosed (Image: Smith family)

Documents revealed in the documentary also showed that doctors had been willing to accept the riskier blood products imported from the States and "treat them on the cheap" as Mrs Smith described it. 

Mr and Mrs Smith say these truths have led them to feel like the whole situation was "murder", and that the doctors responsible for trying to save their son "weren't worried about people's health". 

 The final report, following an inquiry led by Sir Brian Langstaff, is due to be published on May 20.