A mother of two has contracted HIV from her first sexual partner in 14 years after being celibate following the breakdown of her marriage. Annette Newman, aged 49, from St Athan in South Wales thought she had found her ‘soul mate’ in 45-year-old Jason Townsend.
Townsend decided to hide from Ms Newman the fact that he has suffered from HIV for the last 26 years – despite having unprotected sex with her. On discovering her diagnosis, she spiraled into depression and considered suicide. Townsend has subsequently been jailed for 27 months.
Annette said: ‘I was devastated that it was such a short sentence. I don’t feel like I can trust anyone again. I have resigned myself to being single forever.’ ‘He kept saying to me that it had been a long time since he had a relationship. I was getting to the point where maybe he didn’t fancy me and we should call it a day. ‘That’s why I think he then initiated things looking back at it all. It was a very big moment, I was over the moon when he did it.’
Annette and Jason, of Ilford, east London, first found each other on a Facebook poker game in June 2011 and soon met up. The pair quickly bonded but he was slow to go beyond oral sex. But this
changed in March 2012 and they opted not to use a condom as Annette had a contraceptive implant. She believes Jason contacted HIV around the age of 16 through unprotected sex.
He then passed the immune system attacking disease, which in the UK has a transmission rate of around 0.04 per cent during straight sex, at some point during their relationship.
She found out about his condition after she found some of his medication which she googled and discovered they were used to treat HIV. Annette went to South Wales Police the following month and he was arrested, denying his crime until this year. Metro UK
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