A British woman was jailed for 36 months on Monday for deliberately infecting a man with HIV.

Sarah Jane Porter, 42, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after admitting grievous bodily harm.

One of her victims, a 36-year-old man, said she did not reveal she was HIV positive and encouraged him into having unprotected sex.

In May 2005 he contacted police who tracked down some of Porter’s lovers.

One of them, a man aged 31, is HIV positive.

Forensic tests, carried out during a year-long investigation by police, proved that Porter, from Kennington in south London, was the source.

Porter, who refused to help detectives track down her victims, deliberately led these men into a potentially lethal nightmare, said Detective Sergeant Brian McClusky of Brixton police.

“Once found, we were then introducing them (her victims) to a potential nightmare,” McClusky said in a statement issued after the court hearing.

“It is hard to comprehend how or why Porter set about this deliberate chain of events. She gave us no help to identify potential victims throughout the investigation.”

Porter will serve half of her sentence in jail and the rest on licence.