A PRISONER who said he feared he had contracted HIV while trying to save the life of a drug-using cellmate yesterday began a legal action against the Home Office.

A civil hearing at Teesside Combined Court heard that in 1996 Stephen John McAuley was serving a 12-month sentence in Durham Prison for receiving a stolen car. He was sharing a cell with a man on self-harm watch, who was a known intravenous heroin user.

McAuley, 54, of Durham City, said that on August 8 his cellmate, who cannot be named for legal reasons, slashed his wrist, showering blood around their cell.

As he helped to stem the flow, McAuley said he became covered in blood and suffered a small cut to his thumb.

He said it took 20 minutes for prison officers to come to help, that he was left to clean the blood from the cell himself with towels and his request for a change of cell was refused.

Afterwards, he asked several times for an HIV test, which was not carried out until November 1996, he said. He was not told the negative result until the following March.

McAuley also said he had asked for counselling "continually", but was not given any.

He said: "I had read about Aids and that one speck of infected blood in my cut could cause Aids.

"I was afraid. I was losing my head over this. I was continually asking for help."

Keith Millar, for McAuley, said a psychologist had found his client had suffered severe post-traumatic stress, mild depression, phobias and compulsive behaviour, such as ritualistic cleaning, which was "100 per cent" linked to the incident.

McAuley is suing the Home Office for negligence in its duty of care owed to him.

Ashley Serh, for the Home Office, said that officers checked regularly on McAuley's cellmate, and it took only about five minutes to help him.

He said McAuley had voluntarily cleaned up the blood with the towels, even though he was told to wait for it to be done by a warden.

Mr Serh added that a prison officer said the cut McAuley's cellmate inflicted on himself was like a "shaving nick" and there was only a tiny amount of blood.

The case continues.