HIV rapist facing life in prison

Jul 10 2007 By Ross McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

AN HIV-positive man convicted of the knifepoint rape and robbery of another man on a canal towpath in Birmingham has been told he could receive a life sentence.

Judge Peter Ross said Daniel Myers potentially represented an enormous risk to the public.

The fact that Myers had Aids was revealed when he was being cross-examined during a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Myers, aged 20, of Barry Jackson Tower, Aston, and Nikos Johnson, 26, of Rawling Street, Ladywood, were both found guilty of two charges of rape and one of robbery.

The judge said: "This is a dreadful case. It was a brutal and appalling attack. The fact that it was carried out by someone who was HIV positive without any form of protection is spine-chilling."

He adjourned sentence, for reports to be prepared, saying he would consider passing a life or indeterminate term for both men, who were remanded in custody.

Simon Davis, prosecuting, said the victim, who was gay, had come to Birmingham on March 4 last year with friends to sample the city's nightlife.

After going to pubs and clubs, they ended up at a club called Subway City. Mr Davis said there came a point when the victim could no longer find his companions and decided to walk back along a nearby canal towpath to his hotel.

There, he said, he was confronted by Myers and Johnson who raped him.