Part of a page of an inventory made by Newcastle solicitors to return copies of HIV litigation documents on the instructions of Carol Anne Grayson to the Departme of Health in 2006
Dear Kate,
I am writing to you as discussed in a conference call on the 25th May 2023 with Colette Wintle my campaign colleague also present.
As you know I have suffered extreme distress over plagiarism of my awarded research and fake timelines of discovery of documents in the media which I discovered and used years ago.
This has again come to a head recently in relation to Jason Evans, Factor 8 Group being nominated for and winning the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMF) Campaigner of the Year award 2023. Jason, the son of a haemophiliac who died as a result of his treatment, campaigns on the Contaminated Blood scandal where thousands of haemophiliacs were infected with HIV and hepatitus viruses during the 1970s and 1980s. Much of the treatment was imported and the plasma used in manufacture taken from “high-risk” sources, prisoners, gay men, drug addicts, sex workers and “skid row” donors.
The nomination was controversial due to concerns over Jason’s accuracy and integrity in presenting evidence with letters of complaint submitted and a very unsatisfactory response from Emma Boyd at SMF.
I note in the “who else was involved section” on the SMF website, the following people are named linked to the nomination, Des Collins & Dani Holliday at Collins Solicitors, 600 Members of Factor 8 and MP Dame Diana Johnson. Therefore I thought it would be helpful if you could contact Dame Diana Johnson MP on my behalf as due to her past hostility towards me, I doubt she would reply if I wrote myself. Please pass on this letter.
Firstly I want to know why Diana and other members of the APPG have failed to support me and my multi awarded research over the years. It does not make sense. I gave them an important tool to use to question government, now recognized by Sir Brian Langstaff, Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry. These documents have been used extensively to question witnesses and used by Andy Burnham former Secretary of State for Health when he gave a speech in parliament just before leaving referring to the Contaminated Blood scandal as a “criminal cover-up on an industrial scale”.
If my dissertation and documents had been utilized by the APPG straight after publication, we could arguably have got a public inquiry much earlier when more infected and affected persons were still alive and regarding other potential key witnesses too that are now too old and infirm to testify.
After completing my dissertation in 2005/6 and winning the Economic and Social Research Prize, Michael Young Prize 2009, I organized for the Haemophilia Society to produce copies of the dissertation on CD which could easily be distributed and read. CDs went to many MPs including those on the APPG Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood. (At that time this APPG did not include whole blood cases that were added on years after the group was first established.) Johnson was sent my dissertation multiple times by both myself and Colette as a tool to challenge government.
The dissertation critiqued the so called “definitive”government report titled Department of Health, Self-Sufficiency in Blood Products in England and Wales: A Chronology from 1973 to 1991 and showed what was most important wasn’t what was in the report but what was left out. Years later the report was withdrawn on my evidence as a “whitewash”.
As part of my research to help me analyze the DOH report, I used key documents that I had discovered and obtained legally over the years. Part of my collection was the discovery of copies of documents that government had destroyed. These were documents that were exchanged between government solicitors and lawyers representing haemophiliacs during the “discovery” phase in the 1991 HIV litigation. The same documents government fought not to be shown in court. They were never seen by litigants at that time. Incredibly this important evidence was located only a short distance from my home in Newcastle, in the files of my husband’s original legal case at a solicitors’ office. The original solicitors firm that represented my husband Peter a haemophiliacs given contaminated blood no longer existed and another company had taken over.
I obtained access to the documents legally during visits to the office and once the dissertation was complete, I instructed a lawyer to correspond with Dept of Health solicitors, this resulted in us agreeing the documents would be returned to their offices. (I did try for a neutral venue rather than government and approached the national Haemophilia Society but incredibly no one wanted to host the collection.)
As part of the arrangement, goverment agreed to preserve and not destroy any of these papers and to release them in batches through a Dept of Health website specially set up though we were informed some redactions of documents may take place. The documents were returned with an inventory and a series of legal letters also meant to be retained. Years later the website was taken down and the documents were transferred to the National Archives at Kew.
With regard to my decades of research which led eventually to a dissertation, on the 9th July 2022, Newcastle Chronicle reported,
At the end of a traumatic day’s evidence, Sir Brian Langstaff – the former High Court judge leading the public inquiry – paid tribute to Carol too, highlighting how she had provided a wealth of documentation about the scandal to the inquiry, and how her dissertation on the topic was “required reading”.
He said: “I’d read your dissertation more than once, in many parts, and, having read it I fully understood why it won a prize, but more importantly I was looking forward with interest to hear what you had to say. And you certainly haven’t disappointed.”
On the 3rd January 2023, the Newcastle Chronicle reported,
Carol’s research and activism has been cited frequently during the inquiry – including when former Health Secretary and current mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham gave evidence. The lawyers write that Carol’s letters and information showed how “the ‘Government line’ was wrong”, but were “treated with a lower level of attention than they eminently deserved”.
Also in the submission, Milners Solicitors write: “Ms Grayson played a pivotal role in ensuring that documents were preserved and that justice was done: despite the DoH’s failings in destroying documentation, Ms Grayson and her solicitors had held on to copies of the missing documentation, and Ms Grayson notified the DoH and facilitated their return to the Department.”
Jason Evans accessed many of the documents I returned which he was able to obtain via many Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to NA Kew. (A person doesn’t need to do over 2,000 FOIs when they already have many of these papers in boxes at home.) The purpose of return was to enable wide access, the only thing I asked was that there was an acknowledgement to myself and a brief note of how their return was made. It took many exhausting hours to go through these papers, do textual analysis on the content for my research and ensure they were returned, archived and preserved.
Jason admitted to following me for 2 years prior to the start of his public campaigning and to have read my dissertation. He also had access to other campaigners with whom I had shared some of my documents, one for a Judicial Review won in the High Court in 2010. On March 12th 2018, Jason stated in writing to me,
There were a number of documents returned to the Government from a firm of solicitors of which I understand Carol you or your Husband or both were once clients, this is well documented through the Hansard references you usually mention in your e-mails and this is not denied and quite frankly cannot be denied. (these were subsequently released via the National Archives as the HIM 22/2 Series) an inventory of those documents is also available at the National Archive.
He went on to say,
Carol, I understand that you seek acknowledgement for the contribution of the many documents in the HIM 22/2 Series in relation to your husbands litigation case and I do not seek to deny you that at any stage if that is what you seek
However deny me acknowledgement is exactly what Jason has done for several years now. Worse still, he has repeatedly gone into the media with these same documents claiming them as his discovery, no referencing to myself and changing the dates of discovery to 2017 onwards thus creating a false history of what was known and when and by whom.
So I invite Dame Diana Johnson MP to look at the evidence which can be seen on Jason’s website under the word Evidence. The title is Factor 8, The Vault, Infected Blood Scandal Evidence. Under the words National Archives Discovery Catalogue Online she will see the HIM/22 series used by Jason. He states,
This material was published at various times by the Department of Health on their own website’s FOI release section. It is heavily redacted. [20 Volumes. Approx range: 2,000 – 10,000 Pages]
Diana will see very clearly there is no reference to myself anywhere.
Further more there is another series, HIM 22/1 series part of the extensive collection of evidence saved by Sir Patrick Jenkin and I in 2005 and further series not mentioned here. Jason describs 22/1 as follows,
This material was published at various times by the Department of Health on their own website’s FOI release section. It is heavily redacted. [74 Volumes. Approx range: 7,000 – 20,000 Pages]
Lord Jenkin and I had discovered government files were being destroyed at a high rate and feared there would be little left when we finally got a public inquiry so we set about saving everything at NA Kew and other government repositaries on blood policy and authorities, haemophilia, HIV, hepatitis C, v CJD etc. Jason is now able to write his very many FOI access requests for all the documents we saved yet again no acknowledgment and a continuation of distorted Timelines of discovery by Jason from 2017 onwards in the media.
The same applies to the Archer documents saved by Colette and I recently transferred officially to the Haemophilia Society. When the website disappeared offline for 2 years we fought to gain access and save it, with the website domain legally transferred to us as we were both active and testified at the Archer Inquiry. We recently arranged for the Society to take over maintenance. There is no acknowledgement from Jason on the Archer Inquiry website either.
There is also a section on Jason’s Factor 8 website referring to the Penrose Inquiry documents, again some of the documents used by Penrose came from myself which he acquired from the Archer Inquiry where I submitted evidence and worked closely with Inquiry secretary Vijay Mehan.
I invite Dame Diana Johnson to look and respond to the information I am giving her.
With regard to referencing, what is strange is that Jason appears to have no issue referencing a man as he references documents collected by US haemophilia campaigner Dana Kuhn, yet another example of the misogyny faced by female campaigners. He also references a US legal firm.
I wonder does Jason ever consider how different it was/is for an affected partner campaigning when I was caring for a sick and dying infected loved one, bringing up a stepson, involved in pursuing a succession of active legal cases (not one that is stayed), involved in numerous official complaints to GMC, OSS, police, etc, chasing up petitions, attending demonstrations, attending funerals and inquests, doing media interviews, writing letters and articles. Then, actively having to continue researching and responding to written requests from a solicitors’ body (inestigating a corrupt solicitor) just days after the death of a loved one. No he probably doesn’t because he is not infected himself, never had to actively care for a family member with HIV/HCV for years on end, he is young, fit, healthy, able to work, funded by the Terrence Higgins Trust and with regular fundraisers aimed at the haemophilia community. (Getting funding for other peoples research a lot of that time.) Some of us self- funded our campaigns for decades out of our own pockets to help others.
In addition, Jason has all the advantages of modern technology and almost instant communication which long standing campaigners didn’t have in the early days. However, look beyond the flashy Factor 8 website and much of the evidence, theories, ideas etc come from myself, not “new” but rehashed. Others too are now complaining he has used their work also. Story after story that Peter and I broke in the press over the years are now portrayed to the media as originating from Jason years later which could not be further from the truth. Another campaigner highlighted to me recently how Jason ADMITTED to her that these stories weren’t new.
Does Jason not realize that every time he goes into the media with his fake timelines of discovery or a rehashed story, I have then to establish the correct dates and source and notify the Inquiry. This is exhausting and time consuming only adding to the strain of campaigning. His actions are disrespectful to Sir Brian and the Inquiry team and makes more work for investigators having to spend time checking things out.
Diana Johnson has not been kind to long standing female campaigners. She has sidelined us. She breached our confidentiality on an APPG mailing list. I am aware a legal case was launched and may have concluded by now. So I ask her, if so, what was the result? Did she have to pay compensation? Is she honest enough to tell us?
She was not kind to me when I asked her, why had she never raised a voice in support of Palestinian haemophiliacs subjected to apartheid medical treatment especially as she sits on Labour Friends of Israel as vice Chair. This is well documented by human rights groups. When I shared concerns over use of Israeli NSO spyware allegedly used on lawyers, campaigners, journalists, NGOs and politicians, she then falsely accused me of “antisemitic conspiracy theories” (despite there being legal cases launched in the UK in relation to this spyware). There is also the case of the widow of murdered Saudi journalist, Jamal Kashoggi as follows,
Khashoggi’s widow sues Israeli spyware company NSO over phone hacking
Why did she then weaponize antisemitism against me in response to my questions, has this become Labour party policy now to silence those of us that stand up for the rights of Palestinians under Israeli occupation? I was already warned I would be cancelled out of mainstream media and my own campaign history before the Inquiry began. A social media page of mine was removed simply because I highlighted the brutal actions of an apartheid state as has Amnesty International and numerous other human rights organizations.
I am far from the only one that has experienced this. There is now a book recently published titled The Weaponization of AntiSemitism: HOW THE ISRAEL LOBBY BROUGHT DOWN JEREMY CORBYN by Asa Winstanley. The description on Ors website read as follows:
Meticulously researched while reading like a fast-paced thriller, this explosive new book details the way the Israel lobby deployed charges of anti-Semitism to destroy Jeremy Corbyn’s bid for power as leader of the Labour Party.
In an electrifying account, investigative journalist Asa Winstanley shows how Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis was manufactured by pro-Israel groups. Despised and feared by Israel and its allies because of his long-standing support for the Palestine solidarity movement, Jeremy Corbyn became a target of enemies determined to abort his left-wing project.
Drawing on new interviews with many of those victimized in purges the Labour leadership claimed were necessary to tackle anti-Semitism, Winstanley exposes a plot by the Israel lobby, in alliance with the Labour right and Israeli and British intelligence agencies, to prevent a socialist entering Downing Street.
An essential historical corrective, Weaponising Anti-Semitism shines light into the murkiest corners of the British state and those who work with it.
Diana has some serious thinking to do, in terms of her own attitude to long standing campaigners and who and how she is supporting the haemophilia community. If that support is not equally there for everyone, she should resign from the APPG.
Thank you Kate I look forward to a response to this letter from Diana. I ask that you also circulate copies to APPG membership as the secretariat.
Yours sincerely
Carol Anne Grayson
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She was a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 