A “callous, calculating sexual predator” who raped and deliberately infected young, vulnerable men with HIV has been jailed for life and told he must serve at least 23 years.

Adam Hall, 43, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, is the second man in the UK ever to be found guilty of intentionally setting out to spread the virus.

After a four-month trial at Newcastle crown court, Hall was found guilty of charges relating to the deliberate infection of seven men. He raped four of them. One victim was 15 years old, with the others in their late teens and early 20s. The authorities believe there are more victims across England and are encouraging them to come forward.

In victims’ personal statements that were heard at Hall’s sentencing hearing on Thursday, the youngest victim said he learned he was HIV positive as he got off the school bus, changing his life in an instant. Another said he had been left “the shell of who I was”.

Hall, described by a police officer who interviewed him as always “arrogant and dismissive”, targeted younger, sexually inexperienced men who he met in bars or on Grindr, a dating app.

Hall refused to leave his court cell to appear in the dock for sentencing, which the judge, Edward Bindloss, said was “entirely in keeping with the indifference you’ve shown to the suffering of others”.

He set the minimum time Hall will be in jail at 23 years and 42 days, meaning he will be 67 before he is eligible for parole.

Hall’s trial heard that the one-time sex shop worker deliberately infected the young men with no concern for the consequences of his actions.

Det Ch Insp Emma Smith of Northumbria police, who led the investigation, said: “He’s shown absolutely no remorse. He’s never apologised for his behaviour. We’ve interviewed him on a number of occasions and he provided a prepared statement via his legal representative and then no comment answers.”

During interviews Hall came across as “arrogant and dismissive”, Smith said. “That continued into the trial, where he certainly didn’t show any remorse. In fact he actually suggested that some of the victims wanted him to pass HIV on to them, which absolutely was not the case.”

Hall was, Smith said, a “callous, calculating sexual predator”.

The court heard that Hall was diagnosed with HIV in 2010 and took medication to keep his viral load down.

He had unprotected sex with men between 2016 and 2023, in some cases raping them, and failed to disclose his HIV status. His victims only found out after being tested themselves.

One victim described himself as “vulnerable” and “easily manipulated” when he met Hall.

He said: “I think I was expecting him to take care of me. To have an awareness, and compassion. Really, I was just looking for salvation, for someone to love me.

“When I was diagnosed with HIV some of my closest friends stopped me going to their houses, they said they felt funny about germs. It was so hurtful that people who had known me my whole life could suddenly treat me so differently.”

He added: “The whole thing is so unfair, he knew he was infected, and he thought he could get away with infecting me. That he was immune from any consequences. He didn’t even give me the option to take any pre- or post-HIV exposure treatment.”

Another said: “Prior to Hall I had not been involved in a gay relationship. He was my first experience, and I had nothing to compare it to. I would describe myself as naive.

“Hall came into my life, and I have been left a shell of who I was.”

He continued: “It has been years since Hall has been in my life, but my life has never gone back to how it was before I met him. I am still a HIV+ male who has to take lifelong medication to remain well – and undetectable.”

Another victim, who was raped while asleep, said: “Because of HIV my family live in fear of me.”

Detectives want to trace other people who may have had sex with Hall, as he travelled to different parts of the country, including County Durham, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Manchester and London, to meet men.

Alice Wiseman, the director of public health for Newcastle and Gateshead, said health services were ready to offer support to people concerned about prior contact with Hall.

She said: “There is no judgment and your health and safety is our priority.”