A 26-year-old man from Edinburgh is currently in court after reportedly tampering with condoms in an attempt to deliberately infect 10 sexual partners with HIV.

Daryll Rowe reportedly told his partners that he was HIV-negative and insisted on having unprotected sex, but then sabotaged the condoms when they refused to be intimate without using them.

The hairdresser then sent the men text messages that revealed he actually had HIV and mockingly explained that they were now at risk of contracting the virus, jurors heard during the trial at Lewes Crown Court this week.

One of the victims told the court that he was sent a text that read, "Maybe you have the fever. I came inside you and I have HIV. LOL. Oops!"

Another claimed he received a phone call from Rowe in which he admitted, "I ripped the condom. You’re so stupid, you didn’t even know."

During the trial, doctors reported that they were concerned when Rowe refused antiretroviral drugs in the past, which would have made him less likely to pass the virus on to others in the first place.

According to Metro, prosecutor Caroline Carberry QC described the alleged crimes as "a cynical and deliberate campaign to infect other men with HIV," and added that "unfortunately for many of the men he met, his campaign was successful."

Rowe has been charged with infecting a total of four men with the virus and attempting to infect six others between October 2015 and December 2016. The trial is ongoing and expected to last for six weeks.