The inquest into the death of a soldier at the Porton Down biological warfare research base is to be reopened after almost 50 years.

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has given the go-ahead for a second look at the death of Ronald Maddison of Consett, County Durham, after a Sarin gas experiment at the secretive Wiltshire base in 1953, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme reported.

The fresh inquest was welcomed by campaigners, who believe that the health of many young men was damaged by experiments conducted in the decades after the Second World War.

They claim that the men were not informed of the dangers of the experiments before agreeing to take part.

Mr Maddison is alleged to have believed he was taking part in research to find a cure for the common cold.

Wiltshire Police have launched an investigation into the claims that individuals were exposed to toxic nerve gases and diseases including plague.

Campaigner Gordon Bell told the Today programme: "We were duped into taking part in dangerous experiments and things we had no idea about.

"People's health was damaged, and I am certain there are a lot of people dead as a result of these experiments. Certainly Mr Maddison died in Porton Down, on the spot.

"The police have indicated that there were a high number of deaths evident when they began their inquiries.

"When you think about what they were doing to people these nerve gas tests it's only to be expected.

"They never followed up on any health problems that may have followed from these tests. They just left people to suffer the consequences."

Mr Bell said campaigners were in the process of legal action to overturn a bar on survivors of the tests suing the Ministry of Defence.