A "dangerous" rapist who deliberately infected five young men and two boys aged 15 and 17 with HIV has been handed a life sentence with a minimum jail term of 23 years.

Adam Hall, 43, wanted to inflict "pain and harm" on "vulnerable" men he targeted online or at bars in Newcastle between 2016 and 2023, the city's crown court heard.

Hall, from Washington near Sunderland, was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on seven victims, four of whom he raped.

The victims said they had been "violated" and left with lifelong conditions and trauma, while Judge Edward Bindloss said "selfish" Hall had taken their futures away.

Northumbria Police said more suspected victims had come forward since Hall was convicted, with another investigation ongoing.

Hall, who refused to leave his court cell for the sentencing hearing, had carried out a "campaign of rape" to "deliberately inflict HIV on the victims", prosecutor Kama Melly KC said.

Since his own diagnosis in 2010, health professionals had been "gravely concerned" about Hall's behaviour and repeatedly warned him about the risk he posed to others, the court heard.

Hall was "well aware" of the need to take medication, to keep him at non-infectious levels, and to inform sexual partners of his HIV status.

He falsely claimed he did both, the court heard, but instead "chose" not to take medication and "deliberately targeted" men who were "vulnerable" for the "riskiest sexual activity", Melly said.

The prosecutor said Hall's "real sexual interest" was in inflicting "pain and harm" through being aggressive and dominant.

Despite advances in healthcare, HIV remained a "lifelong irreversible condition" with "significant health risks" requiring treatment, Melly said, adding the harm was compounded for the rape victims as, every time they took medication, they would be reminded "on a daily basis" of the ordeal Hall inflicted upon them.

In a statement read to the court, one of the men, who was 18 when he was raped and infected by Hall, said he had been "violated in the most horrific and dehumanising way" and been left with a trauma he carried every day.

He said he felt "disgusted, ashamed and completely alone", adding: "There are days when I feel like I am just surviving, not living."

'Lifelong medical dependence'

Another told the court he was a "very carefree 17-year-old" whose future had been "tarnished and altered irreversibly" by the "mistake" of trusting the older man.

"There is a massive hole in my heart for the life I might have lived," he said, telling the court he felt he had "betrayed" his younger self's wishes.

He described Hall as a predator who had "deceived" him.

A third man, who was 19 at the time he was infected, said he had been "hurt in the most malicious way".

Judge Bindloss said Hall's refusal to attend the sentencing hearing was "entirely in keeping with the indifference" the rapist had shown "to the suffering of others".

He said the victims shared the same "sad and moving stories", adding: "They have all had their futures taken away, all deliberately because of [Hall]."

Dismissing claims made by Hall during the trial that HIV was not a serious injury, the judge said the men had been given a "permanent and irreversible" illness with a "lifelong dependence on medical treatment".

Bindloss said Hall had been "fully and repeatedly" warned about the infection risk he posed, yet chose to keep himself "transmissible" while lying about his status to sexual partners in a "significant degree of premeditation".

Hall did not tell the men the truth, even after sex, robbing them of the opportunity to seek early treatment and reduce the risk of the virus developing, the judge said.

With regard to the rapes, Hall acted "selfishly with little empathy and no interest" in his sexual partners' well-being, the judge said.

He was described as a "dangerous" offender who posed a "high risk of serious harm" to others.

'Opportunistic'

Hall continues to deny responsibility, with his barrister Craig Hassall KC telling the sentencing hearing that his client maintains his claim that "if" he was the source of the men's HIV, he did not do it intentionally.

He also disputed the prosecution's "campaign of rape" characterisation and said the sex attacks were "opportunistic" rather than planned.

Since Hall was convicted in March, more men had made allegations which were "subject to a live investigation", according to Det Ch Insp Emma Smith from Northumbria Police.

"Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Adam Hall, please do come forward," she said.

Hall was also sentenced for dealing drugs, some of which he had given to one of his victims before raping and infecting him.

Jurors failed to reach a verdict on a charge of rape committed against an eighth man, with the court hearing prosecutors would not seek a further trial.

Hall was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years and 42 days to take account of the time he had spent on remand.