Hairdresser with HIV ‘tried to infect lovers’

A hairdresser deliberately tried to infect his lovers with HIV after meeting them via phone app Grindr, a court has heard.

Daryll Rowe, 26, is accused of insisting on unprotected sex with his partners, claiming to be free of the virus, or of tampering with the condom when they insisted he used one.

He later sent them mocking text messages telling them he was HIV positive and that they could be at risk, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Rowe, who is originally from Edinburgh, is charged with infecting four men with the virus, the court heard, and of attempting to infect a further six people between October 2015 and December 2016.

He was living and working in the Brighton area at the time of the alleged offences.