Brixham repeat HIV sex offender faces 'significant' jail term

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mug shotImage source, Nick Irving
Image caption,
James Defalco previously knowingly infected an 82-year-old woman in 2005

A man living with HIV is facing a "significant jail term" for having sex with a woman without telling her he has the virus.

Under the terms of a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO), James Defalco, 57, has to tell anyone he is in a relationship with about his condition.

Defalco, from Brixham, Devon, admitted breaching the order between 18 August and 4 September, at Exeter Crown Court.

He has served two previous prison sentences for breaching the order.

The court heard he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a second breach of the SOPO by having contact with a child under the age of 16 without the contact being approved by social services and without the person supervising knowing about his convictions.

Judge David Evans ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report on Defalco "dealing specifically" with the risk he poses to others.

"You have pleaded guilty to both of these serious offences," he said.

"You understand that you will be sentenced to a significant term of custody in due course."

In 2005 Defalco, who then went by the name of Derek Hornett, became one of the first people in Britain to be convicted of recklessly infecting someone with HIV.

The then 44-year-old infected admitted knowingly infecting an 82-year-old woman.

He was jailed for three years and three months and made a subject of the SOPO.

He previously admitted breaching the order in September 2014 by having sex with a woman without telling her about his condition and was also jailed.

He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on 15 February.

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