A MAN who infected his girlfriend with HIV after they had unprotected sex has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

The 35-year-old from Bournemouth, who the Daily Echo has been banned by the courts from identifying, repeatedly lied to the woman, who was worried he might be carrying the virus.

Prosecutor Andy Houston told Bournemouth Crown Court that the man pressurised Miss A into having unprotected sex on a number of occasions and ignored advice from his doctors to practice safe sex and tell his girlfriend about his HIV.

His health worker finally contacted the woman, aged in her 20s but who cannot be named for legal reasons, and urged her to have an HIV test. Her results came back as positive and she contacted the police.

The man admitted at a previous hearing causing grievous bodily harm to his ex-partner.

Jailing the man for three-and-a half years, Judge Roger Jarvis told him: "You are a very dangerous person.

"This crime is a crime which is in many ways beyond comprehension by right-thinking people.

"It took place in what, to the victim, was a loving relationship, but in truth, on your part, there was a callous and cruel deceit.

"You knew she had this anxiety and you misled her. She feels her life is blighted and uncertain. Your disregard for medical advice leads me to believe there is a significant risk to other members of the public."

Judge Jarvis said the defendant would be considered for parole after half his sentence, minus 144 days on remand. He will be made the subject of a five-year extended sentence of supervision after release and will complete a three-month suspended prison sentence he was in breach of. He also recommended the man be deported to his native country.

The court heard the couple met at a nightclub in Bournemouth in May 2006 but knew each other professionally. Mr Houston said Miss A had asked the man when they first met if he had a sexual disease and he said he had not.

They began having sex a week after meeting and she repeatedly asked him to have tests for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. He claimed to have been tested and showed her paperwork and text messages he had written himself, but claimed they were all-clears from clinics.

Mr Houston told the court that after discovering she had HIV, Miss A confronted the man, who she described as her first love, and "got the impression he was going to go on and do it again".

Miss A told police HIV was not a life sentence but life-changing. She said she has suffered from depression, no longer plans to have children, has put her career on hold and has told very few people.

Andy Grey, mitigating, said the man was sorry for what had happened. He added: "He expresses his remorse for not telling her."