The court was told that in 1993 he started a sexual relationship with his victim and they went on to buy a house together in Accrington, Lancashire, but he did not tell her about his condition.

It was not until May 2000 that the woman was told by a friend of the defendant that he had HIV.

I have come to the conclusion that your activity must be described as highly reckless

Judge Andrew Woolman

The court heard the woman had intercourse with another man during a break in the couple's seven-year relationship and that she herself had unknowingly passed on the virus to him.

Cawley was initially arrested by Lancashire Police in December 2003 after his ex-girlfriend made a complaint two months earlier.

He told officers he did not have unprotected sex with her and he was released on police bail.

Cawley flew out to Thailand and was thought to be in the country when the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 struck the country. He returned to the UK in January 2007 after he made contact with his solicitor.

Cawley pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing.

Judge Andrew Woolman said the case "presented a difficult sentencing exercise of which there was no correct answer".

He told Cawley: "You started off as a victim. Then you created two more as a result of your selfish activity. I have come to the conclusion that your activity must be described as highly reckless.

"It is true that you did not transmit directly Aids but you stood the risk of transmitting HIV. It was a risk you were prepared to take and you took it with devastating consequences."