Man jailed for deliberately infecting men with HIV asks victims to ‘put this behind them’ in chilling documentary
Daryll Rowe was the first person in the UK to be convicted of deliberately spreading the HIV virus
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Daryll Rowe, the man jailed for deliberately infecting men with HIV, has asked his victims to ‘put this behind them’.
Rowe became the first person to ever in the UK to be convicted of deliberately spreading the HIV virus after he was found guilty of infecting five men and trying to infect five more. He was jailed for life.
In a chilling documentary, The Man Who Used HIV As A Weapon – set to air on BBC3, from Fri 15 Mar, and BBC One on Tue 19 Mar – tells the horrific story of the Edinburgh-born hairdresser who set out to infect other men with the virus.
The documentary features five men who tell their story after the 28 year old either had unprotected sex with his partners, or sabotaged condoms, after meeting them through dating apps.
In the documentary, Rowe is heard asking for forgiveness and says: “I would like to say to the men in Scotland and in England that I am really sorry for my behaviour […] for being so naive and so reckless.
“The main thing is that I hope that they can forgive me one day and they can try and live a happy life and put this behind them.”
Rowe was diagnosed in April 2015 in his home city of Edinburgh and proceeded to meet men on Grindr and had sex with eight of them in Brighton from October 2015 to February 2016.
He then went on the run from the police and targeted two more men before he was detained by police at a Brighton flat last year.