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A 43-year-old man, Adam Hall, has been convicted of multiple serious offences, including rape and deliberately transmitting HIV to seven men, one of whom was only 15 years old. The Newcastle Crown Court heard that Hall targeted young men, whom he met either online or in bars, engaging in unprotected sex without disclosing his HIV-positive status. The court found him guilty of raping four men and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to them as well as to three others.
Hall, who resides in Washington near Sunderland, was described by prosecutors as someone intent on causing significant harm to his victims. Following the verdict, he was remanded in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced at a future hearing. It was revealed during the trial that Hall had been diagnosed with HIV in August 2010, after which he was prescribed medication aimed at suppressing the virus to undetectable levels, rendering it non-infectious.
The trial, lasting 97 days and beginning in November, involved complex and challenging evidence, with jurors spending over 42 hours spread across nine days to reach a combination of unanimous and majority verdicts on a total of 15 charges. Prosecutor Kama Melly KC stated at the start of the trial that Hall deliberately sought out “young and vulnerable men” and “knew precisely what he was doing when he passed this virus on” to them. One victim was just 15 years old at the time of infection, while the others were in their late teens or early twenties.
Sentencing has been postponed until April 23, as Judge Edward Bindloss ordered a report to assess Hall’s level of dangerousness. In addition to the charges related to rape and HIV transmission, Hall will also face sentencing for drug dealing offences. The judge remarked that Hall could be facing a “very long sentence indeed” and commended the jurors for their dedication and careful consideration of the complex and emotionally difficult evidence they had to evaluate. Following the jury’s involvement in this demanding case, each member was excused from future jury service.
After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Emma Smith from Northumbria Police described Hall as a “callous calculating sexual predator.” Amy Dixon of the Crown Prosecution Service emphasized that Hall was fully aware of the risks his actions posed and “fully intended to cause the harmful lifelong consequences that his victims now face.” She also commended the bravery of the victims, many of whom only discovered their HIV-positive status after subsequent testing. The CPS noted that over 95% of people living with HIV in the UK are on treatment that makes the virus non-infectious, but it was known since 2016 that Hall had not been consistently adhering to his medication regimen
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