Daryll Rowe has been jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years (PA)

A hairdresser who deliberately tried to infect 10 men with HIV has been handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 12 years.

Daryll Rowe, 27, from Brighton, infected five men he had unprotected sex with and deliberately tampered with the condoms of another five men in Brighton and Northumberland.

Rowe is the first man in the country to be found guilty of intentionally setting out to spread HIV.

He was convicted of five counts of causing GBH and five of attempted GBH .

View photos Darryl Rowe has been handed a life sentence (SWNS) More

Rowe was initially diagnosed with the virus in April 2015, before he met men on the gay dating app Grindr and had sex with eight of them between October 2015 and February 2016.

He later fled to the north-east where he evaded police and targeted two more men.

Brighton Crown Court heard how some of the men were sent messages after sex that said ‘I have HIV LOL. Oops’ and ‘I’m riddled’.

View photos Darryl Rowe is interviewed by police (REX) More

Delivering sentence, Christine Henson QC said: ‘The messages you sent make it crystal clear you knew exactly what you were doing.

‘As well as the physical offences it is clear for the victims the psychological effects are immense. I cannot see how and when you will no longer be a danger to gay men.’

During his six week trial, Rowe’s victims described the psychological damage of his crimes, and how they had considered taking their own lives after being infected with the virus.

‘Darryl has destroyed my life. I would rather he had murdered me than left me to live my life like this’, one said.

View photos Rowe will spend a minimum of 12 years behind bars More

Rowe’s six-week trial also heard how he embarked on a deliberate campaign to infect men with HIV, constantly refusing offers of treatment from doctors.

Instead, he would insist of having unprotected sex with men, claiming he was ‘clean’.

When the men refused, he tampered with condoms, reportedly tricking them into thinking he was practising safe sex.

He would later become aggressive, and is believed to have taunted his victims in text messages.

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In a statement released by police, one of Rowe’s victims told how his mother and father had both died of Aids when he was a child.

He said: ‘This disease is something I never took lightly. I did everything to prevent the virus from ever catching me.

‘I educated myself on safe sex and always used a condom but on November 13 2015, Daryll Rowe decided to take that right away from me. A part of me died that day when I was diagnosed.

‘The old me is no longer. The new me is constantly sad, thinking about how my life changed.

‘ have been devastated by Rowe’s actions but I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.’