PATIENTS caught up in the North-East CJD scare discovered yesterday they will not receive compensation.

The 24 patients -who all had brain surgery at Middlesbrough General Hospital last summer - were told later they had been exposed to the theoretical risk of contracting the deadly disease from contaminated surgical instruments.

They were contacted after tests carried out last August showed that a female patient, who underwent an operation in July, had the sporadic form of CJD.

But an official inquiry cleared South Tees trust of any breach of national brain surgery guidelines.

Now the trust has hired a law firm to fight its corner against compensation claims and sent out a letter, stating: "There are no proposals to make compensation payment on the basis of the evidence as it currently stands."