Hairdresser guilty of deliberately infecting ten men with HIV

A hairdresser has been found guilty of deliberately trying to infect ten men with HIV after meeting them on Grindr.

Daryll Rowe, from Edinburgh, was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, and five counts of attempting to do so yesterday at Lewes Crown Court.

The jury of seven women and five men returned its verdicts after 18 hours deliberating.

The court was silent, and 27-year-old Rowe sat motionless, as the verdicts were announced just before 4pm.

Initially four unanimous verdicts – three of grievous bodily harm with intent and one of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm – were returned.

Judge Christine Henson QC asked the jury to retire to continue deliberations after the foreman said they had been unable to all agree on verdicts for the remaining six counts.

Moments later, the 12 returned to court to find Rowe guilty by majority verdicts of 11 to one of all the other counts he faced – two of grievous bodily harm with intent, and four of attempting to do so.

During the six-week trial, the court heard how Rowe embarked on a cynical and deliberate campaign to target the men he met on gay dating app Grindr in Brighton and the north east between October 2015 and December last year.

Rowe, now of no fixed abode but originally from Edinburgh, repeatedly denied having unprotected sex, or tampering with condoms, in a bid to infect others with the virus he had been diagnosed with months earlier.

He claimed he thought he was cured and denied ever telling his victims he was “clean”.

He moved to Brighton where he met eight of his alleged victims, shortly after being diagnosed with the virus in Edinburgh in April 2015.

Rowe knew he had been diagnosed with the virus when he used Grindr to meet men for sex and was exposed as someone who lied to all of his victims.

He demanded unprotected sex and if they said no, he wore a condom which he had secretly broken in a bid to infect them.

He was persistent, insistent, and could become aggressive and abusive.

At this time he had also contracted herpes, the sexually transmitted disease which makes passing on HIV more likely.

Doctors said he was coping well with his diagnosis but became concerned when he stopped turning up to appointments and refused antiretroviral treatment which would make him less contagious.