A haemophiliac infected with the Aids virus by contaminated blood yesterday challenged a health authority's refusal to fund treatment he regards as "safe".

Peter Longstaff, 45, from West Jesmond, Newcastle, has also been exposed to blood "prions" which could cause new variant CJD.

He was seeking a judicial review before Mr Justice Charles at London's High Court on a decision by Newcastle NHS Primary Care Trust refusing his request for treatment for haemophilia A with synthetic Recombinant Factor VIII.

The hospital authority was following Department of Health guidelines issued in March 1998 that only haemophilia A patients aged under 16 and new patients, not previously treated with plasma-based blood clotting products, should receive Recombinant Factor VIII.

As a result of contracting various infections while being treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, Mr Longstaff decided in 2000 to refuse further treatment with Factor VIII derived from human blood plasma - made from thousands of individual blood donations - on the grounds that it had proved impossible to guarantee the safety of the product.

The judge also heard 95 haemophiliac patients treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, had tested positive for HIV infection in recent years, and 78 had died.

Mr Longstaff was in ''the surviving group of 17''.

He had also contracted hepatitis B, diagnosed in the mid-1980s, and hepatitis C in 1994. Hepatitis G and the HIV Aids virus were diagnosed about 1985.

The hospital authorities have agreed to provide Mr Longstaff with the treatment he desires if he suffers a life-threatening bleed pending the outcome.

Stephen Grime, for Mr Longstaff, asked the judge to rule the trust had applied an unlawfully rigid policy and unfairly failed to deal with Mr Longstaff's individual circumstances.

Judgment was reserved to a later date.