This powerful documentary tells the shocking accounts of five men who were abused by Daryll Rowe – the first ever person in the UK to be convicted of deliberately infecting men with HIV.
ALL five men have waived their anonymity to speak publicly and tell their stories to first time director Charlotte Charlton.
All have the same question they want answered: Why?
The film sets out to find them answers. But there is only one person who really knows why he did it: Daryll Rowe himself. In a final tense show-down Charlotte speaks to him in prison by telephone.
The stories of all the men are compelling and make for riveting television.
The contribution of former Brighton resident Lenny Royal in particular is very powerful.
Intelligent, articulate and very engaging, Lenny after initially refusing online requests for unsafe sex, succumbed to Rowe’s undoubted charms when he turned up unexpectedly one night at his front door. Lenny was feeling vulnerable following the break-up of a relationship but surely regrets the day he ever gave Rowe details of where he lived.
Lenny, is understandably angry after testing positive because he feels he did nothing “wrong” and thought Rowe was using a condom.
He says; “If I had had unprotected sex with him then I could say, shit, you made a mistake and you get over that. But the fact that I did not make that choice and he ripped the condom off changing my life, is something I can’t get over. I feel like a victim of rape. I feel like I have been violated. I feel like there is a right of mine that has been taken away without my consent and that is the thing I struggle with on a day to day basis. How can someone be so fucking cruel.”
The documentary is being broadcast on BBC1 on Tuesday, March 19 at 11.05pm and has been available on BBC iPlayer from Friday March 15.