ANDREW Gunn was treated with infected blood as a child. Now aged 30, he has hepatitis C and HIV.

Mr Gunn, a musician from Glasgow who now lives in Inverness, is a campaigner for the Scottish Haemophilia Group Forum and has fought for a public inquiry.

Two years ago, he was fined GBP100 for throwing paint at the Scottish Parliament building, with a fellow protester, in frustration at the executive's refusal to hold an inquiry.

Yesterday, he expressed little shock at Mr Kerr 's announcement and accused the political system of concealing the truth surrounding contaminated blood supplies, deriding Mr Kerr 's comments as little more than a "sham".

He said: "I have no faith in the political system at all. It's a sham. Why would Andy Kerr give up a lucrative career in politics by doing the right thing by giving people justice?

"He's just a puppet and his strings are being pulled by Westminster. The system is rigged against us.

"The truth is too politically volatile. It would leave senior civil servants, politicians and pharmaceutical companies facing billions of pounds of compensation."