LORDS TO CONSIDER LOTTO RAPIST CASE

A 78-year-old teacher identified only as Mrs A received just £5,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board after a brutal attack by Iorworth Hoare 19 years ago.

She was also ordered to pay Hoare's £100,000 legal fees after unsuccessful attempts to bring a case for compensation in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Hoare, 58, had not been worth suing until he won £7 million on the Lotto Extra. He was jailed for life in 1989 and spent 16 years in prison before his win while he was on day release late in 2004.

He was freed on parole the following March and is now reported to live in a £700,000 mansion near Newcastle.

Mrs A wanted compensation for psychiatric injury caused by the "violent and disgusting" attempted rape. She was 59 when Hoare - who had previously subjected six other women to serious sexual assaults, including rape - attacked her as she walked in Roundhay Park, Leeds, in February 1988.

Mrs A says she still suffers from nightmares and claims the brutality of the attack destroyed her self esteem, wrecked her relationships and ruined her life forever.

But all her attempts to claim compensation from her attacker after his win were thrown out by the courts.

She could not use the Human Rights Act to help her because the six-year limitation period had expired before it came into force, the appeal judges ruled.

Her case could establish a legal precedent because it would extend the deadline for victims to sue for compensation. The Law Lords will also take into consideration four other cases involving challenges to the Limitation Act.