Traffic officer jailed for 14 months after giving his girlfriend HERPES

  • Sexual health charities brand decision as 'outrageous'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:02 PM on 16th August 2011

A man who infected his girlfriend with a sexually transmitted disease has been jailed for 14 months.
David Golding, 28, admitted causing grievous bodily harm after giving his ex-partner genital herpes during their relationship.
Northampton Crown Court heard traffic officer Golding kept quiet about his STD when the couple got together in 2009.
Justice? David Golding was jailed at Northampton Crown Court (right)
Justice? David Golding was jailed for 14 months at Northampton Crown Court (right)
But she was soon diagnosed with the lifelong infection and reported him to police when they split up in 2010.
Leading charities have described the decision to lock up Golding, of Daventry, Northamptonshire, for 14 months as 'outrageous'.
But Judge Michael Fowler said Golding's initial refusal to admit passing on herpes 'placed uncertainty in her life and caused 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 as 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.'
Prosecutor Steven Evans told the court Golding, a traffic officer for the Highways Agency, initially denied carrying the disease when confronted by his lover in September 2009.
The Herpes virus causes outbreaks of painful sores
The Herpes virus causes outbreaks of painful sores
He said: '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.
'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.'
David Everett, mitigating, said: 'He was stupid, extremely stupid but he did not do this in a premeditated way.'
Nigel Scott, of the Herpes Viruses Association, said there are around 75,000 new cases of the STD every year.
He said: 'Will children also now be prosecuted for giving their friends chicken pox? For passing on a cold sore? This is outrageous.
'This case sets back the normalisation of this trivial infection by years. I had thought such a farcical scenario could only happen in America, never in Northampton.'
Marian Nicholson, director of the Herpes Viruses Association added:
'It is unfortunate genital herpes is being dragged in to court like this.
'This is a very common virus, herpes simplex, that most of us carry without even noticing.'
Herpes can cause a recurring flu-like virus, which is followed by an outbreak of painful oral or genital sores in many sufferers.