HIV SCOT GUILTY OF INFECTING MEN ON PURPOSE

Sick Scot carried out twisted campaign targeting 10 victims he met on date app

A SCOTS hairdresser has been found guilty of deliberately trying to infect 10 men he met on Grindr with HIV.

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

During the six-week trial, the court heard Rowe, 27, embarked on a “cynical and deliberate” campaign to target men he met on the gay dating app in Brighton and Northumbria from October 2015 to December last year.

Rowe, originally from Edinburgh, denied having unprotected sex, or tampering with condoms.

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

Rowe moved to Brighton, where he met eight of his victims, shortly after being diagnosed with the virus in Edinburgh in April 2015. He’d also contracted herpes, a disease which makes passing on HIV more likely.

He demanded to have unprotected sex and, if his victims said no, he wore condoms which he had secretly broken.

The jury heard Rowe became abusive and aggressive to them after sex.

Doctors became concerned when he refused treatment which would make him less contagious.

He was warned he could be prosecuted for passing on the virus. By that time, two of Rowe’s victims had been diagnosed with HIV.

Medics called police when both men provided similar descriptions of the person they had last slept with.

Detectives arrested Rowe in February last year. In his first police interview, he lied about being HIV positive or knowing the first two men.

He was told to answer bail in Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland.

By the time a third victim came forward, police had his medical records, proving he had lied about his HIV status.

He was released on bail but in November last year he went on the run, targeting his two final victims.

When police tracked him down, they were handed his rucksack, which held a stash of sabotaged condoms.

Rowe, who will return to court on January 29, was told he could face a life sentence.