A pensioner who was a rape victim from 20 years ago has won the right to claim compensation from her attacker who scooped £7 million on the National Lottery.

The unnamed 78 year-old victim won the right to claim a share of sex offender Iorworth Hoare’s lottery win, in a ruling at London’s High Court.

Hoare has a long history of rape and assault convictions and it was on a supervised day trip out of prison that he purchased the lottery ticket that made him a millionaire in 2004.

A year later he was released from prison after serving 16 years for his assault on the woman and with his freedom he was presented with the £7 million prize.

The victim tried to sue Mr Hoare when she was informed about his lottery win, but the courts decided the time limit for claiming compensation had expired.

Earlier this year the Law Lords, however, decided that she might still have a case to claim and proposed that the case should be taken to the High Court to see if she still had a right to sue Mr Hoare.

This week, Mr Justice Coulson at the High Court gave the green light for the pensioner to sue Mr Hoare for damages.  He accepted that the victim didn’t attempt to sue her attacker earlier because he was broke.

Mr Justice Coulson stated that the case was unique and shouldn’t be used as an example for other crime victims to sue criminals long after the offence has been committed.

He said, “It will be even rarer for such a defendant, years later, to buy a lottery ticket which wins him £7 million or otherwise comes into an unexpected fortune which makes him suddenly worth pursuing after all.”

The victim claimed the attack meant she still suffered from nightmares and has scarred her by destroying her self-esteem and damaging her relationships.

She said, “I very strongly believe he should be held accountable to me for his attack on me and the … damage the attack caused me over the years.  The attack fundamentally changed me and I am not the person I used to be.”

Hoare lives under an assumed name in a luxury home just outside of Newcastle.  He receives verbal abuse from passersby and his neighbours are very unhappy that they have to live near him. 

Hoare isn’t the only sex offender to have won big on the lottery, Herbert Plant won £2.6 million on the lottery draw last month and it later emerged that he had spent 5 year’s on the sex offender’s list for plying a 15 year-old girl with drink and drugs so he could have sex with her.  So Mr Plant’s victim also has a case to claim compensation from her attacker.

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