Daryll Rowe has been convicted of GBH for deliberately infecting men with HIV through unprotected sex and by sabotaging condoms

A hairdresser who faces a potential life sentence for trying to infect as many men as possible with HIV was filmed lying to police when he told them he did not have the virus.

Daryll Rowe, 27, originally from Edinburgh, infected five men from the Brighton area and the North East with HIV while five others narrowly escaped contracting the life-changing virus.

He was found guilty of five counts of causing grievous bodily harm and five of attempting to cause GBH today in a prosecution hailed as the first of its kind.

A court heard he infected the men in a 'revenge' campaign on the gay community after he was diagnosed with HIV.

The judge adjourned sentencing until next year but warned Rowe he could face a life sentence for his crimes.

It comes as video footage showed Rowe being interviewed by officers and telling them he did not have HIV.

He was asked: 'Do you have HIV?' He replied: 'No.'

When asked if he had a test for the virus recently, he said: 'Not recently, I had a relationship when I first got here.

'It was unprotected so I have not been tested after that. When I first got here I was dating somebody pretty quickly. It got pretty intense.'

After the verdict, one of Rowe's victims anonymously told the BBC that he was driven to the verge of suicide when he found out he was infected after both his parents died of AIDS.

He said: 'I was always so careful.

'My dad was a junkie and she was a very young mother. I was always trying to run away from that lifestyle, that's why I always insisted on condoms.'

He added it was a 'reminder of my past'.

'I feel it's come full-circle, and has made this my new life, which is very unfair,' he added.

'[Rowe] called me over and over. He admitted to ripping the condom.

When caught and interviewed by police, he denied he had HIV and claimed he was clear

'He said, "I got you. Burn, you have it" and he was laughing at me. There was menace in his voice, it was an insane conversation. It was horrific to hear. I was in a dark place.

'It's a violation. I could only describe it as feeling like you've been raped, not the physical side of it, but the mental side.'

The extent of Rowe's malicious scheme to take 'revenge' on the gay community following his diagnosis was laid bare in a six-week trial.

Lewes Crown Court has heard Rowe had hatched the plan almost the moment he received the news in April 2015 that he had contracted HIV from his previous boyfriend.

He was told about the treatments available but stunned medical staff in his home city of Edinburgh by informing them he did not want to take anti-retroviral drugs.

He then failed to attend further follow-up appointments in September and October 2015 because he had already moved to Brighton to embark on his plan.

Although he initially had nowhere to live or stay, he began to make contact with men on the gay dating app, Grindr.

Rowe would exchange a series of messages with the men before meeting up with them at their homes where they would have sex.

Speaking after his convictions today, Detective Inspector Andy Wolstenholme said: 'This trial is the first time that a person has been charged and convicted of deliberately infecting others with HIV in the country.

'The verdict today is very welcome. It will bring some closure to the victims who have been very strong and supportive through the investigation.

'By bravely giving evidence in the trial, it sends a clear message that despite the complex and highly sensitive nature of such a case, the police and prosecutors will not shy away from investigating allegations of deliberate HIV transmission in order to keep people safe.'

Rowe met the men on gay dating app Grindr and sent taunting messages after hooking up

Rowe's first victim picked up the hairdresser in his car and they had unprotected sex. But when the man panicked and refused to continue Rowe became extremely hostile.

The man said he feared for his safety as Rowe became furious and accused him of 'wasting his evening'.

The victim told the court: 'He wouldn't leave. It felt like an hour of him going on and on. I thought he was so angry he was going to throw a brick at my car.

'I thought I'd have to go back to work and explain a black eye or something. He was really angry. He got out of the car. I cried all the way home.'

Shocked by his behaviour, the victim refused to meet Rowe again which led the hairdresser to send a series of abusive texts taunting him.

In one he said: 'Maybe you have the fever. I came inside you and I have HIV LOL. Oops!'

Rowe refused NHS treatment for the virus and instead hatched a 'revenge' campaign

Weeks later the first victim began to develop flu-like symptoms and was later diagnosed as HIV positive.

Dock officers sacked for falling asleep and snoring during trial Two dock officers have been sacked for falling asleep during Daryll Rowe's trial. They were removed from court proceedings after being reported for snoring. Investigations were launched by the Ministry of Justice and security firm GEOAmey after complaints were made. A GEOAmey spokesman said: 'Clearly the behaviour of the two GEOAmey officers involved was unacceptable and not representative of the hard work and high professional standards of their colleagues. 'We conducted an internal investigation into the circumstances and after full consideration of the facts we took the correct, but nonetheless regrettable, decision to dismiss the officers. 'We now consider this matter closed.' Advertisement

Rowe's second Grindr victim insisted on safe sex with a condom. The US-born man had to forcefully push Rowe off of him on more than one occasion when he tried to have sex without protection.

Rowe quickly devised an alternative plan and as he put on the condom in the dark bedroom he ripped off the end before the pair had intercourse.

Days later, Rowe began taunting and abusing the man by text message and told him: 'I ripped the condom. Burn. I got you.'

Alive to the possibility men could insist on safe sex, Rowe decided to leave nothing to chance.

He bought his own condoms and 'sabotaged' them so his victims wouldn't notice the damage and he could continue to spread the virus.

A pattern was set. If a victim refused to agree to unprotected sex he could simply reach for one of his carefully torn condoms, hoodwinking his unsuspecting victim into thinking he was having safe sex.

Caroline Carberry QC told Lewes Crown Court: 'Daryll Rowe embarked on a cynical and deliberate campaign to infect other men with HIV, having high risk sexual intercourse knowing he was highly infectious.

'Unfortunately for many of the men he met his campaign was successful. He deceived those men into believing he was HIV negative, reassuring those he was intimate with.'

Rowe met his victims of the 'hook up app' Grindr, a dating app for gay and bisexual men

Rowe's malicious crusade to infect as many men as possible was discovered after victims began to fall ill and went to police.

Fearing there was a lone suspect attempting to spread HIV to as many men as possible, a public health warning was issued.

When the first two men were diagnosed with HIV, police swooped and arrested Rowe who subsequently denied having HIV and claimed he had never met the men concerned.

Between February and April a number of other men came forward after reading about the warning in the local press.

Rowe was released and bailed to the address of a relative in North Berwick, near Edinburgh but he absconded and continued his plan, having sex with two further men before eventually being apprehended.

Self-styled 'vegan hippie' who was exposed during his trial as a cruel liar who enjoying playing with victims' emotions

Daryll Rowe presented himself as a softly spoken 'vegan hippie' who was looking for love - but in court it emerged he was actually 'nasty individual' who could quickly become angry.

Originally from Edinburgh, he was taken into care at a young age and fostered from the age of seven, he left school after taking his GCSEs and trained as a hairdresser at college.

He came out as gay at the age of 15, in the same year he experienced his first sexual encounter. He travelled to Australia for a year to visit his brothers in Perth before moving back to Edinburgh to work.

Rowe presented himself as a healthy-living vegan, even posting health videos online

Rowe became a vegan after turning vegetarian at the age of 18 and said he chose to move to Brighton because of its gay and vegan-friendly atmosphere.

He was 'very spiritual' and lived by the mantra of 'love, life and positivity'. He loved star signs, likening himself with characteristics of his Libra symbol of being 'relationship orientated', artistic, creative and balanced.

After he was diagnosed with HIV in April 2015, he said he tried urine therapy in a bid to rid himself of the illness. This eventually saw him drinking his own urine every morning and regularly throughout the day, he claimed.

He hides his identity as his true personality began to be exposed during his trial

This was supplemented with a whole range of natural remedies, oregano, coconut and olive leaf oils, which were reported online as also helping to combat HIV, he claimed.

But the prosecution stripped away his unassuming, healthy-living persona and exposed him as a cruel and calculating liar.

It emerged he would use fillers to plump up his top lip. He said he was told this was a synthetic version of acid naturally found in the body so he was comfortable with having the injections and admitted taking prescribed medication after contracting gonorrhoea, genital warts and herpes.

The court also heard how he sent a string of 'horrible' and 'cruel' text messages to several of his victims once they had been romantically involved.

He 'played' with them when they became concerned and questioned his HIV status and intentionally tormented them.

He even accused his victims of lying when they told police and jury he had said he was free of the virus before they had sex.