STEPHEN Legg, the Freshbrook man who almost died when he contracted blood poisoning following a transfusion at Princess Margaret Hospital, is trying to re-build his shattered life in Scotland.

Mr Legg, 40, settled out of court with the National Blood Authority in February, six-and-a-half years after he suffered septicaemic and circulatory collapse from a blood transfusion following spinal surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Awarded £300,000 in compensation, he and his family left Swindon and moved to Scotland in May of this year.

But despite the money, Mr Legg says life is still a daily struggle.

He said: "When we were awarded the money we knew it wasn't going to last forever.

"We also knew we needed an adapted house, without stairs, and that the only way to get that was to move out of Swindon where the property prices were too high."

Mr Legg, his wife Jane and children John, 16, Michael, 15 and Daniel, 11, now live in a bungalow in the garden of a guesthouse they bought in Speay Bridge, near Fort William in Scotland.

"Obviously it wasn't ideal moving all the way up here," he said.

"Our children were all at school in Swindon, my wife Jane's family is there and it meant uprooting and starting over, but we had no choice.

"We needed to be able to support ourselves and Scotland was one of the few places where we could afford to do that."

Mr Legg suffered a horrific catalogue of injuries, following the tainted blood transfusion, including the loss of some of his toes, deafness, brain injury and depression, leaving him unlikely ever to work again.

And since moving to Scotland, he has also suffered a minor stroke, which has left him weakened on one side of his body.

He said: "I couldn't believe it when I ended up in hospital again after everything that has happened.

"I've since got some of the feeling back in my face after the stroke but I'm still having to speak out of the corner of my mouth."

Mr Legg still also suffers from headaches and nightmares about his ordeal.

"If I sit down and think about what happened in Swindon, I do get bitter," he said.

"I can't do things with my children that I'd like to and whereas the guesthouse is something I should be helping my wife with, I just can't do it.

"One bonus is that up here in Scotland I can go out without people knowing what's happened to me. The air is fresher and it's pretty. At the end of the day I suppose I'm just lucky to be around at all."

n Mr Legg was working as a publican at the Spotted Cow in Coate when he was taken to PMH for surgery on July 3, 1995.

The High Court issued proceedings against the National Blood Authority on the grounds that they had supplied blood that was defective within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

Claims were made for damages, for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, loss of earnings and costs of care.