By Andy Dolan
Last updated at 7:26 AM on 17th August 2011
Denial: David Golding initially said he wasn't responsible for Cara Scott contracting HerpesA traffic officer who knowingly gave his girlfriend herpes has been jailed for 14 months.
David Golding, 28, kept quiet about the sexually transmitted infection when he began a relationship with 24-year-old Cara Scott two years ago.
Within two months she was diagnosed with the incurable condition and confronted him.
But Golding, who worked for the Highways Agency, denied he was responsible.
He only admitted the truth shortly before the relationship ended early last year.
Golding’s sentence after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm was yesterday attacked as ‘outrageous’ by sexual health charities, which said the ‘trivial’ condition was being wrongly stigmatised.
But Judge Michael Fowler said Golding’s initial refusal to admit passing on herpes ‘placed uncertainty in [Miss Scott’s] life and caused suspicions to be cast on to others’.
He added: ‘Because it was in a relationship, it was particularly mean and an offence 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.’
Golding, from Braunston, Northamptonshire, caught the disease from a previous partner.
Trial: The unusual case was heard at Northampton Crown and County CourtProsecutor Steven Evans told Northampton Crown Court that Miss Scott had become ill in September 2009.
He added: ‘Very quickly, she was diagnosed with genital herpes. It is a lifelong condition and it is incurable. On discovering this, she confronted the defendant but he denied he was responsible.
‘He told her he had been given the all-clear at the clinic when he had gone there for screening.
The couple parted in March 2010, when Miss Scott is said to have reported the infection to police.
Consequences: Judge Michael Fowler sentenced David Golding to 14 months at Northampton Crown CourtGolding’s parents, Janet, 64, and Christopher, 59, said they were shocked at the sentence.
Mrs Golding said: ‘This is David’s first offence and we are distraught at what might happen to him in jail. He’s a good son who did not deserve this.’
Her husband said that he found the sentence ‘difficult to understand’.
The virus which causes genital herpes could cause an outbreak or lie dormant for years, during which time it is not infectious. Many people remain unaware they are infected.
Those who do display symptoms usually suffer fever, headache and tiredness and small blisters and itching.
Nigel Scott, spokesman for the Herpes Viruses Association, said Golding’s sentence was ‘outrageous’ and compared the case to prosecuting children for ‘giving their friends chicken pox’.
He added: ‘It is such a trivial infection that most people don’t notice it. It has exactly the same medical implications and consequences as an ordinary facial cold sore.’
Marian Nicholson, director of the HVA, added: ‘Many of those who are diagnosed are reluctant to disclose their status but this is because of the unnecessary stigma, not because it is serious ... emphatically it is not.’
But a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said the case was considered in line with its ‘intentional or reckless transmission of infection’ policy.
