POLICE are searching for scores of men who may have contracted HIV from a women jailed for knowingly infecting her boyfriend.
Sarah Porter, 43, a Vidal Sassoon receptionist, kept her condition secret while regularly having unprotected sex. Police believe she may have been motivated by revenge against men.
She infected her 31-year-old boyfriend during their two-year relationship, and yesterday at the Inner London Crown Court admitted to inflicting grievous bodily harm recklessly.
Porter, who met men at nightclubs in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham, was sentenced to 32 months in prison. Her partner, a DJ and promoter, described her as “pure evil” after she allowed him to believe that it was he who had passed the virus to her.
Police have appealed to men who had relations with Porter to come forward. They believe that she may have slept with dozens of men but she has refused to give the names of her partners. An investigation revealed that she had unprotected sex with four men in six months. The three others tested negative for HIV.
Advertisement
Porter, of Kennington, South London, who has a six-year-old son, wept throughout the hearing as the court was told of the suffering she had caused her former partner. The man, referred to as Mr C, attempted suicide after his diagnosis, and, in an impact statement, said that he felt betrayed and told how that the life he planned had ended. He felt numb, was in shock and knew that there was a “timebomb living inside him”.
He said: “Before being infected with HIV I led a happy, carefree life. I was studying for a career that I was passionate about and had good friendships and what I thought to be a good relationship.
“On the whole I considered myself to be baggage-free. Now everything has changed and will never be the same again.
“Besides the pain already suffered by me, my family and partner, I am petrified about what is to come. I know my health will deteriorate and I know how devastating this will be for her to watch.”
Police began investigating Porter after a 36-year-old man, who had slept with her without a condom, reported last year that he had heard she had HIV. They searched her flat for documents and traced Mr C, who told them how Porter had given him the virus.
Advertisement
Detective Sergeant Brian McClusky said that the four men they had traced might be “the tip of the iceberg” and appealed for others to come forward.
He said that Porter might have been motivated by revenge. “Porter herself was a victim. She was infected by another partner so I can understand people thinking that revenge was a motive, but she never told us.”
He said her victims were “very articulate, professional, decent men who were trying to do their best in life”.
Jailing Porter, Judge Quentin Campbell said: “Your victim was devastated that a person whom he loved and respected — you — had lied to him time and time again. Your cruelty and dishonesty made him feel worthless. Even though for a while he was more sorry for you than he was for himself.” He said that she would likely serve half her sentence and spend the rest on licence.
Mr C is engaged to another woman who is fully aware of his HIV status. “The doctors have not told me how long I can expect to live and I have not asked,” he said. All the men who have so far tested positive have been involved in the dance music scene and are black.
Advertisement
Last night one of the victims, Mr B, claimed she had set out on a “payback mission”. He told The Sun: “She caught HIV off a black guy and now she’s on a payback mission. All the guys she has slept with are black. Her thinking seems to be, ‘Why should I be the only one to suffer?”