A mother-of-three infected with HIV by a boyfriend who hid his diagnosis from her says her life has been ruined by the attack which has condemned her to 'a life sentence of misery'.
Kara Wilkinson, 42, began a relationship with undertaker Alan Mason, 45, in 2010 without realising he had been diagnosed as HIV positive two years earlier.
Mason only revealed he had the illness in October 2011, 18 months after the pair began dating, when Miss Wilkinson became ill following a holiday to Spain.
Since being diagnosed Miss Wilkinson, a former counsellor from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, has suffered from heart attacks, pneumonia, osteoporosis and severe hair loss.
Today Mason starts serving two years and eight months behind bars for grievous bodily harm, but Miss Wilkinson says she has blasted the sentence for being too lenient.
She said: 'He’s ruined my life. I’ll never forgive him for what he’s done.
'He should have been sent to prison for five years. And what’s to stop him doing it to another woman when he gets out?. He’s given me a life sentence of misery.
'Before I had HIV, I was never ill and had loads of energy. Now I seem to be permanently ill. My long blonde hair has started to fall out and I look much older than I am.
Alan Mason, 45, was diagnosed with HIV in 2008 but didn't tell Miss Wilkinson about his diagnosis when they began dating in April 2010
'I don’t even have a mirror in my house as I can’t stand to look at my reflection.
'He’s taken my life away. I won’t ever forgive him for what he’s done to me. What he’s given me will never go away.
'I don’t think I’ll ever have another relationship - how could I ever trust another man? And, unlike Alan, I’d hate to put anyone else at risk from catching HIV.'
Miss Wilkinson met Mason in April 2010 at a pub in Kendal. The single mum had been on her own for two years and the couple swapped numbers before going on a first date at a crazy golf course.
Two months later Alan moved from his parents' house into Miss Wilkinson's rented maisonette. But during a two-week holiday in Benidorm, 18 months after they met, she started to feel unwell.
Back in the UK, in October 2011, she made an appointment with her doctor, who suggested that she might be HIV positive.
'At the beginning of the second week away, I woke up feeling sick, had diarrhoea and felt weak and dizzy when I stood up,' she said.
'When the doctor said I might be HIV positive, it didn’t make any sense. I told her that I was in a long term relationship but agreed to have a blood test taken just in case.
'When I got home, I told Alan what the doctor had said. He just shrugged, but the next day, he told me he had something important to say.
'He dropped the bombshell that he thought I was HIV positive, as he’d had the same symptoms for years before. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My first thought was, "I’m going to die."'
Miss Wilkinson says she first felt ill in October 2011 after going on holiday with Mason to Benidorm (pictured). It was only after doctors tested her for HIV that Mason confessed to what he had done
As she had been sterilised after having three children from a previous relationship, the couple hadn’t used protection through their relationship, and often had sex every day.
After having the diagnosis confirmed, Miss Wilkinson quizzed her boyfriend on where he’d caught the virus, how it affected him and why he hadn’t told her he was infected before they slept together.
'All he could tell me was he’d caught it after a one night stand with a girl and that he hadn’t told me because he didn’t want to lose me,' she said.
'He’d even stopped taking his medication when we moved in together so that I wouldn’t get suspicious. He told me that it wouldn’t make any difference to my life, as long as I took the medicine.
'Eventually after my questions, he snapped and accused me of being selfish for talking about HIV so much. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I kicked him out.'
Miss Wilkinson began dating Mason (pictured together) in April 2010 after the pair met at a pub in Kendal and went on a date to a crazy golf course
Since her diagnosis, 5ft tall Miss Wilkinson has struggled to keep her weight up, dropping to 5st 7lb at one point. She was forced to quit her job and in June 2012, she started to suffer chest pain and was rushed by air ambulance to hospital in Blackpool, where she was treated for a heart attack.
She added: 'I couldn’t understand why I’d had a heart attack at my age, but the doctor explained that having HIV meant I was more susceptible to heart attacks and strokes.
'Since then I’ve had four heart attacks and had two shunts fitted to open up the arteries in my heart.'
Miss Wilkinson has been treated in hospital for pneumonia and has recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis. She now takes a clutch of tablets every day, to keep the AIDs infection at bay, and she prevent another heart attack.
Mason, a divorced father-of-two appeared in Carlisle Crown Court on September 1, 2014, where he admitted causing Miss Wilkinson grievous bodily harm by giving her HIV.
Within two months of meeting Miss Wilkinson, Mason moved from his parents' house to her rented masionette (Miss Wilkinson pictured in July 2010, a month after Mason moved in)
Within two months of meeting Miss Wilkinson, Mason moved from his parents' house to her rented masionette (Miss Wilkinson pictured in July 2010, a month after Mason moved in)
Passing sentence, Judge Paul Batty QC told him: 'I am of the view that you deliberately targeted this hapless, vulnerable victim.'
After the hearing, Det Con Damian West of Cumbria Police said: 'This is a unique case and the sentencing imposed highlights the disregard Mason had for his actions.
'Even though the victim has to live with this virus, modern medication means there should be no impact on life expectancy - however, the virus has a significant day to day impact on those who have to live with it.'
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