By Andy Dolan
Last updated at 8:51 PM on 18th August 2011
Jailed: David Golding, 28, from Daventry, Northants, admitted grievous bodily harm The man jailed for knowingly infecting his girlfriend with herpes did so to make sure that no one else would want her, his victim said yesterday.
Cara Scott accused former lover David Golding of leaving her with a 'life sentence' and described the knowledge that he had given her the disease as 'soul-destroying'.
The 24-year-old, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, said she hoped Golding's 14-month sentence would serve as a 'warning to others'.
Golding, 28, was jailed by a judge who told the Highways Agency worker he had committed a 'betrayal in a relationship in which you professed love'.
The court heard that Miss Scott became infected with the incurable sexually transmitted infection within a few months of the couple meeting, but that when she confronted Golding, he denied he was responsible.
Yesterday the former hairdresser, now going by the surname Lee, described her suffering in the two years since she caught the disease.
She added: 'I get angry and depressed when the herpes flares up. It's a disgusting reminder of him.
'But seeing him brought to justice has helped me move on. Jail is what he deserves.'
Miss Lee told how when she confronted Golding, he denied giving her herpes and suggested she may have been infected years earlier, as the virus can lie dormant for long periods.
'I didn't even want to look at him. But I couldn't leave – I was convinced I would never find anybody else'She said Golding 'never seemed worried about catching it' from her and assured her that he didn't need testing 'as he wasn't showing any of the signs'.
The couple went ahead with plans to move in together because Miss Lee felt 'grateful' that Golding still wanted to be with her.
But her suspicions about where she had contracted the virus remained. Golding revealed the truth last year and admitted transmitting the infection to her.
Miss Lee said: 'I felt sick and was crying so much I couldn't breathe.
'He said he knew if I had it no one else would want me. I screamed, "How could you do that?"
'I didn't even want to look at him. But I couldn't leave – I was convinced I would never find anybody else.'
She told Closer magazine that Golding, from Braunston, near Daventry, was apologetic and promised he would look after her.
But the couple stopped sleeping together, and when they eventually split up, Miss Lee went to the police.
She has since had a baby with her new partner, Jonathan Clark, 29.
He said: 'When Cara told me about the STI I wasn't put off – I loved her and wanted to be with her.
We have to be careful, but it's something we deal with.'
Golding admitted grievous bodily harm and was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court last week.
The case – believed to be the first time a defendant has been convicted and jailed for passing on herpes – has been condemned by sexual health charities, which said the 'trivial' condition was being wrongly stigmatised.
Around 10 per cent of the population have genital herpes.
The condition causes painful red blisters and itching in the genital area and flu-like symptoms including fever, headache and tiredness.
It is caused by the same two types of the herpes simplex virus which are responsible for cold sores on the face and nose.
A sufficient quantity of the virus is needed on the skin to transmit it, and enough is usually only present during a flare-up.
But Miss Lee said she believes she was infected when her partner had no visible symptoms.
Nigel Scott, spokesman for the Herpes Viruses Association, compared the case to prosecuting children for 'giving their friends chicken pox'.
He called for a review of the Crown Prosecution Service's guidelines on 'intentional or reckless sexual transmission of infection' policy, which were consulted before the decision to prosecute was taken.
The guidelines state that grievous bodily harm can be caused when transmission of a sexual infection will have 'serious, perhaps life-threatening, consequences for the infected person's health'.
But Mr Scott argued that herpes is not serious or life-threatening.
