'Monster' Washington rapist Adam Hall jailed for life after deliberately giving HIV to seven men

Adam Hall, who did not leave his cell at court for the sentence hearing, raped four victims and transmitted the virus to and infected another three during sex.

Some of the men attended the sentence hearing at Newcastle Crown Court to see the attacker who changed their lives locked up.

But Hall, who agreed to travel to the court building from prison where he was held on remand, refused to appear in the dock for the hearing.

Hall, 43, of Donvale Road, in Donwell, Washington, was convicted of a total of 15 charges including rape, causing GBH with intent and supplying a class B drug, after a trial.

He admitted unrelated drugs conspiracy charges in relation to class A supply, including crystal meth and cocaine, which he received concurrent sentences for.

The court heard Hall knew he was HIV positive but did not inform the men or take medication to decrease the virus in his blood.

Judge Edward Bindloss said that, although Hall refused to attend the hearing, he would be sentenced as if he was there and added: “Your refusal to attend is in keeping with the indifference you show to the suffering of others.”

Hall was told he must serve a minimum of 23 years and 42 days but will be released only when the parole board deem it safe.

Judge Bindloss said: “You operated this pattern of behaviour over six or seven years.

“You were interested in your own pleasure only. You acted selfishly, with no empathy and little interest in their pleasure. You were using them for your own sexual purposes.”

The judge said there was “no evidence of remorse at all” and that Hall is a “dangerous” offender who poses a high risk of serious harm to the public.

Prosecutor Kama Melly said four of the men now living with the lifelong medical condition now have “a virus in their body given to them by a man who also raped them”.

Miss Melly read a series of heartbreaking impact statements from the men whose lives have been changed forever because of Hall, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2010.

One of the men said: "I was a young man trying to find my place in the world. I was violated in the most horrific, dehumanising way.

“It shattered my trust, self worth, sense of identity.

“The physical consequences have been devastating, I contracted HIV.

“Medicine has come a long way but the diagnosis has changed the trajectory of my life permanently."

He said he has lost his "freedom to love without fear" and added: "I need the world to understand what happens to me matters."

Another said he changed from a sociable person to a "shell of who he was" and added: "Having HIV makes me feel dirty, ashamed and embarrassed."

He said he lives in fear of developing AIDS as he struggles with the medication he now must take for the rest of his life.

Victims spoke of struggling to hear or see Hall's name. One said: "I find it very hard to understand how anyone can go around inflicting people with HIV and hurting people like that."

He said he how he struggles with the medication he now has to take for the rest of his life and knows if he contracts other illnesses it can lead to complications with his HIV, added: "I can die from something as simple as a common cold.

"Hall has taken the future I thought I had away from me without my consent."

Another, who branded Hall a "monster", said he has suffered terrible side affects from the medication he now has to take for life after being diagnosed with HIV and added: "I felt like I had been given a death sentence.

"There is still a lot of stigma about it."

One of the men said he now finds it very difficult to trust people, has felt "shame" and "embarrassment", worries about implications for his future, relationships and his health.

He said he is at a time in his life when he should be "carefree" but feels the "weight of the world on my shoulders" but added: "I now know there is one person to blame and that is not me."

Another said Hall hurt him "in the most malicious way" and added: "I couldn't sleep at night knowing I had done that to someone.

"He has given me a secret I will be forced to keep for the rest of my life."

Miss Melly said since the 1980s there has been significant medical developments in the treatment of HIV and medication is now available to reduce the amount of the virus in the blood to a point it becomes undetectable.

Miss Melly added: "We say Adam Hall was well aware of his HIV status but wasn't taking the necessary treatment, the strict regime of treatment, to remain at an undetectable level during the relevant periods in this case."

Miss Melly said despite the medical developments in treatment, the HIV virus remains a "serious and life changing" condition.

Craig Hassall, defending, said there are indications Hall was taking his medications "at times" as his viral load would sometimes decrease.

Mr Hassall said, while Hall does have previous convictions, they involve "nothing approaching this level of harm".

He added that it is an "irony" that Hall's lifelong medical condition is a mitigating factor in sentence consideration.