‘Unforgivable Sins’ Earns Man Twelve Years Behind Bars

Observers have described as unforgiveable sins, the deeds of 61 year old man that have now landed him twelve years behind bars.

Also described as vile pimp, he infected three of his prostitutes with HIV after having unprotected sex with more than 50 of them.

Some of them are not anguished they are wishing for nothing else other than death, and in agreeing Bristol Crown Court judge said he ‘brought misery to so many in his life’

The man, John Rodney, 61, formerly from Swindon, Wiltshire, England, didn’t say he had HIV  despite being diagnosed in 2013, and he claimed to not have had intercourse for a decade

Detectives launched an investigation into the life of the man, formerly from Toothill, Swindon, in 2017 after a complaint from a woman who tested positive for HIV two years earlier following sex with him.

Not only did he refuse to inform the women, the court heart, he also refused taking the essential treatment.

Rodney, who appeared via video link, was diagnosed with the virus in 2013 and had been surprised to hear he had tested positive, the court heard.

Charles Thomas, prosecuting, said that medical professionals reported Rodney was reluctant to say how many people had had slept with.

He was also said to have only sporadically been taking medication intended to reduce the chance of him infecting others and claimed to not have had intercourse for a decade.

Analysis by experts at the University of Oxford revealed that at least three women had contracted HIV having had unprotected sex with him.

Appearing before the courts on 29 previous occasions for offences including wounding with intent, drug supply and pimping.

The three women whose cases were put before the courts had had sex with Rodney in 2015 and 2016. Two had known the man since they were in their early teens.

During the hearing, one of Rodney’s victims told of the devastating impact her positive diagnosis had on her life – leading her to try to commit suicide multiple times.

One of the women, referred to in court as P, told the hearing that Rodney had taken away her right to choose.

She said: ‘The sad thing is this all could have been prevented. This did not need to happen to me and the other ladies affected, to our families and our children and their children.

‘We are all paying the price due to the one person’s lack of responsibility to himself and for another human being.’

The woman said she had been shunned by her family and spoke of the stigma of her diagnosis.

The medication she was taking in order to treat the virus caused her hair, which she prized and had not cut since childhood, to fall out in clumps.

It resulted in sickness akin to that suffered by those undergoing chemotherapy.

She added: ‘I felt like I was dying. I started to pray to God that I would die because the pain and sickness was so intense.’

Sending him to prison a judge described Rodney’s grim actions as ‘unforgivable’.

His sentence will be served concurrently to the five-year jail he is currently serving for breaching a sexual risk order banning Rodney from having sex with women without informing police beforehand.

He breached the order, which was granted at Swindon Magistrates’ Court in 2017, on more than one occasion and was jailed for two-and-a-half years in 2018.

Peter Binder, defending, said his client had suffered from poor mental and physical health and, while this was not an excuse for his behaviour, it explained the background to his offending.

He had told prison staff of feeling suicidal, that he did not see a reason to take his medication and that he did not have anything to live for.

Sentencing, Judge William Hart said: ‘What you did was in my judgement unforgivable.

‘Indeed, your appalling criminal record is a litany of disregard for the interests and wellbeing of other people.

‘You have brought misery to so many over the 60 years of your life.’

Rodney was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, of which he must serve at least two thirds behind bars, and an extended licence period of four-and-a-half years.

He has a poor criminal record, appearing before the courts on 29 previous occasions for offences including wounding with intent, drug supply and pimping.