Man jailed for giving partner genital herpes

A traffic officer with the Highways Agency has been jailed for infecting an ex-partner with lifelong genital herpes. David Golding, aged 28, kept quiet about the fact he was infected with the sexual transmitted infection when he began a relationship in July 2009. Steven Evans, prosecuting at Northampton Crown Court, said his then partner became ill in September 2009. He said: “Very quickly, she was diagnosed with herpes, genital herpes which your honour will see from the doctor’s statement is a viral condition. It is a lifelong condition and it is incurable. On discovering this, she confronted the defendant but he denied he was responsible.

“The relationship continued and they were together until the end of 2009. Shortly before he admitted he had caught it from a previous partner and was responsible for infecting her. He told her he had been given the all- clear at the clinic when he had gone there for screening. She said she would not have slept with him had she known, even with contraception. It was when Golding was arrested on an allegation of assaulting her that she complained to police about being infected.



Mr Evans added: “The relationship had continued beyond the revelation and him having transferred the infection to her for some months into early 2010. Following the breakdown of relations between the two of them she reported it to the police.” Golding, of Greenway, Braunston, near Daventry, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm. Sentencing him to 14 months’ imprisonment, Judge Michael Fowler said Golding’s initial refusal to admit passing on herpes “placed uncertainty in her life and caused to suspicions to be cast onto others”.

He added: “The offence to which you have pleaded guilty invariably causes great concern. Because it was in a relationship, it was particularly mean and one which amounted to a betrayal – a betrayal in a relationship in which you professed love. The injury you caused her by this infection is at least or more serious than an injury leaving a scar because it carries continued recurrence, extreme discomfort and consequences for relationships she will have in the future.” David Everrett, mitigating, said: “He was stupid, extremely stupid but I would ask your honour to say that whilst he was stupid, he did not do this in a premeditated way.”