A MAN who infected his girlfriend with HIV after failing to reveal he had it has been jailed.

Nicholas Richards, of Saffron Way, Sittingbourne, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday) to 12 months in prison.

Jailed: Nicholas Richards did not tell partner he had HIV virus

The 31-year-old had been charged with causing GBH after sleeping with his partner without telling her he had the condition.

The woman, who was 19 at the time but cannot be named for legal reasons, fell pregnant by Richards, the court heard.

While she was infected, tests revealed the baby, who also cannot be identified, was all clear.

Richards was also made the subject of a sexual prevention order, which says he must never have unprotected sex and must not have sex with anyone without telling them he has HIV. He was also sentenced to a further year behind bars for an unrelated offence of GBH, to be served consecutively.

It is believed to be the first time in Kent that anyone has been jailed after failing to tell their partner they had HIV.

The Crown Prosecution Service's head of South East Complex Casework Unit Nigel Pilkington said: "We very carefully considered the totality of the evidence supplied by Kent Police when deciding if there was sufficient evidence to prosecute and if a prosecution was in the public interest. We relied upon detailed medical and factual evidence supplied by medical practitioners, additional scientific information and the accounts of the victim and defendant.

"We concluded that there was sufficient evidence for a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm because there was sufficient evidence to prove that HIV was transmitted through a reckless act.

"When we accepted his guilty plea we were satisfied that the defendant was responsible for passing on the infection. He had known he had HIV and had been diagnosed up to two years earlier, but he had unprotected sex with the victim and failed to inform her of the risks involved."

The sentence was not welcomed by the HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust. Its policy director Lisa Power said: "It's vital that we stop the onward transmission of HIV, but we don't believe that prosecutions like this help.

"People with HIV should – and the vast majority, do – make every effort to avoid passing the virus on. But some people struggle with disclosure for a number of reasons, and they need support to manage safer sex.

"We know that these cases make it harder for some people to come forward and ask for help. We urge everyone having difficulty managing safer sex – whether they think they've got HIV or not – to call THT Direct and find out how to get support to change their behaviour.

"We shouldn't forget that in the UK, one in four people with HIV don't know they have it, so anyone having sex with a new partner should take responsibility for their own sexual health and insist on condoms. Not only may someone feel unable to tell you they have HIV, they may not know themselves."

Contact THT on 0845 1221200.