‘Monster’ who deliberately spread HIV jailed as checks urged for possible West Yorkshire-based victims
He deliberately infected others with HIV and is known to have travelled to West Yorkshire
A “monster” who deliberately infected vulnerable and inexperienced sexual partners, including a boy of 15, with HIV has been jailed for at least 23 years.
Adam Hall, 43, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, hid his HIV status from partners, failed to take medication to keep his viral load low, then had unprotected sex with men, sometimes raping them.
A senior health official has now urged other people across the country who have had sex with Hall to get themselves checked for HIV.
Detectives know that Hall travelled to see men he met on the dating app Grindr across Newcastle and the North East, including County Durham and Middlesbrough, as well as West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Manchester and London.
Newcastle director of public health Professor Alice Wiseman urged people who have had sex with Hall to access confidential health services in their area.
She said: “The sooner that anyone is diagnosed, the better the treatment is.
“We want to eliminate HIV in the long term, the way to do that is for those who are infected to receive treatment as soon as possible.
“The earlier you are diagnosed, the sooner you can have anti-retroviral therapy, and if you are consistent with your treatment, you can reduce your viral load so you are no longer infectious to those around you.”
A warning has been issued to other public health directors around the country about Hall’s offending and the potential for there to be more victims whom he deliberately infected.
Hall was convicted of five counts of rape and seven counts of causing grievous bodily harm – by deliberately infecting younger partners with HIV after meeting them in bars in the Newcastle area or on the dating app Grindr.
Hall’s victims were aged from their late 20s down to just 15, with the schoolboy finding out he had contracted HIV in a phone call from health professionals moments after he stepped off a school bus.
Two of his victims were just 17 and 18.
Judge Edward Bindloss deemed Hall “dangerous” before jailing him for life with a minimum term of 23 years and 42 days.
Outside court, senior prosecutor Amy Dixon said: “When we looked at all of that surrounding evidence in relation to his sexual activity with the victim-survivors, it was clear that he’d intended to pass on this virus.
“He hadn’t just been reckless.”
Detective Chief Inspector Emma Smith said: “He’s shown absolutely no remorse.
“He’s never apologised for his behaviour and we’ve interviewed him on a number of occasions.
“He provided a prepared statement via his legal representative, and then no comment answers.
“He came across as quite arrogant, quite dismissive, and I would say that that continued into the trial.
“In fact, he actually suggested that some of the victims wanted him to pass on HIV to them, which is absolutely not the case.
“There was witness testimony to say that he’d been bragging that the police investigation wouldn’t go anywhere and nothing was going to happen to him.”