A gifted nurse died at Clapham's Trinity Hospice after contracting HIV while taking blood from a patient, an inquest heard this week.

Juliet Young died at the age of 42, surrounded by family, at the hospice in Clapham Common North Side.

She had accidentally pricked her thumb while taking blood from an infected patient at Maudsley Mental Health Hospital in Denmark Hill in 2000.

The hospital did not had the disposable equipment normally used to treat HIV sufferers so Miss Young used a different type of needle, Southwark Coroners Court heard.

The Glasgow-born nurse was wearing gloves but went for tests, knowing of the patient's illness, and was diagnosed with the African strain of HIV.

She went on to develop Aids, and died of pneumonia in January last year.

Staff at Trinity Hospice paid tribute to her this week.

Sharon Fox, Miss Young's supervisor, said: "She was a very funny presence on the ward and a stickler for making sure patients got the best possible treatment."

Her GP, Raja Sinha, said: "She was a model patient, a real angel having all the best qualities of a nurse."

Relatives including her parents John, 74, and Muriel, 71, were with her when she died.

Miss Young's sister, Abigail, said: "She wasn't coherent but she knew that we were all there."