HIV rape accused 'lied to men he was clean'

Adam Hall is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court

This article contains sexual details some people may find distressing

A man accused of deliberately infecting seven young men with HIV lied to sexual partners that he was "clean", a court has heard.

Adam Hall, 43, met men in Newcastle bars or on dating apps and had unprotected sex with them after telling them he had no sexually transmitted diseases, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said he would claim he was the victim of a "conspiracy" but their case was he was "manipulative" and intended to devastate lives.

Mr Hall, from Donwell in Washington, denies raping five men and seven counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

In the second part of her opening of the case to jurors, prosecutor Kama Melly KC said Mr Hall told men he was "strictly a top", meaning he would give and not receive anal sex.

He was described as rough and dominant and would continue to have sex with men after they asked him to stop, which was rape, the court heard.

'Started noticing symptoms'

Mr Hall knew he was HIV positive having been diagnosed in 2010, but did not tell sexual partners and, at various relevant times between 2015 and 2023, was not taking the medication which would have made him non-infectious, jurors were told.

One of the men challenged Mr Hall about an appointment card for an HIV test at a clinic he found, but Mr Hall denied it was his and "lied" to the man, Ms Melly said.

Mr Hall met up with several of the men after meeting on Grindr, a dating app for gay people, one of whom claimed to be 18 but was actually 15, the court heard.

Mr Hall told him he was "clean", meaning he did not have any sexually transmitted infections, Ms Melly said, a claim made to a number of the complainants.

One man insisted Mr Hall wear a condom which he did, but later agreed to unprotected sex after Mr Hall told him he was "clean", which was him "making clear he didn't have any sort of sexual infection or indeed HIV", Ms Melly said.

Several of the men began noticing symptoms, such as fatigue, weight loss and fever, in the weeks after their interactions with Mr Hall, which led to them being tested for and diagnosed with HIV, the court heard.

Tests of the men's other sexual partners ruled them out as potential sources of the virus, the court was told, and the strain the men had been diagnosed with was "consistent" with Mr Hall's.

When one of the men challenged Mr Hall, he denied having HIV which the man found "disgusting", Ms Melly said.

'Personal vendetta'

The prosecutor said Mr Hall's defence would be that all sexual contact was consensual and he told people of his HIV status for which he was taking medication to make it "undetectable", meaning non-infectious.

He would say one of the men not only knew of Mr Hall's HIV but "actively wished to contract it" from him, Ms Melly said.

She said he would claim he was the victim of a "conspiracy" and "personal vendetta" started by a man who Mr Hall had allegedly stolen something from and who knew some of the complainants.

Ms Melly said Mr Hall would also "raise alternative routes" for how the men had been infected.

But the prosecution's case was that Mr Hall was a "manipulative man who knew exactly what he was doing and intended the consequences" that had "devastated the lives of all the men he inflicted HIV [upon]".

Ms Melly said one of the complainants, who had also become addicted to drugs given to him by Mr Hall, had tried to kill himself as a result of being diagnosed with HIV.

'Busy lifestyle' claim

The court also heard that, after his diagnosis in 2010, Mr Hall had regular meetings with sexual health workers at clinics in Sunderland and Newcastle where he was told about the risks around having sex and that he must inform partners about his HIV status.

Ms Melly said he claimed he "always" told people of his diagnosis before they had sex, he was using protection and he "understood the legal issues around HIV transmission".

At one point, after he said condoms did not fit him properly, medical staff ordered special ones for him, the court heard.

Mr Hall also told clinicians he had more than 100 "sexual contacts" before his diagnosis, the court heard.

In later years, Mr Hall told health workers he was failing to take the daily medication that would keep him at non-infectious levels because he had a "busy lifestyle" and was not always at home, the court heard.

The trial continues.