UK woman wins right to sue rapist who won lottery millions

Thursday 10th July, 06:58 AM JST

LONDON —

A British woman assaulted by a serial rapist has won the right to sue the attacker who became a millionaire by winning the lottery while in prison.

A judge ruled that the 78-year-old victim, known only as Mrs A, can seek punitive damages from Iorworth Hoare for an attempted rape in 1989.

Hoare won 7 million pounds (about $12.8 million) at the time—when he bought a winning lottery ticket in 2004 while spending a few hours outside prison under supervision. He received his money when he was released in 2005, after serving 16 years of a life sentence for attacking Mrs A. He had six previous convictions for sexual assaults and rape.

Mrs A sought to sue Hoare when she learned about his winnings. But she was initially told the time limit for compensation claims had run out, with such claims allowed only up to six years after a crime.

Judge Peter Coulson ruled she could pursue the lawsuit, saying he accepted that Mrs A did not sue Hoare immediately after the attack because the convict did not have funds that would make a financial claim worthwhile.

Coulson stressed that the case was exceptional and should not lead to many people trying to sue long after the statute of limitation runs out.

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

In a statement that formed part of the court ruling, Mrs A said: “I very strongly believe he should be held accountable to me for his attack on me and the physiological damage the attack caused me over the years. The attack fundamentally changed me and I am not the person I used to be.”

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8 Comments

asdfghjkl at 10:07 AM JST - 10th July

Hope she and other victims get a lot of money from this guy. Don't know if he will put the money to bad use or not. Can't believe the lottery actually let prisoners buy tickets!
Ausintokyo at 11:53 AM JST - 10th July

Would be perfect if the total of the winnings were distributed to Mrs A and all the previous victims.
HonestDictator at 12:00 PM JST - 10th July

Discouraging isn't it. But I do hope they can get the fullest amount of compensation out of him... like ALL of the money he won xD
DXXJP at 04:29 PM JST - 10th July

Unbelievable!!!! isnt it always the lowest scum on earth that for some reason or another manages to make out. Law abiding citizens can barely rub two nickles together and then we have this.

This shouldn't take a court to decide, it should be a given.
buggerlugs at 01:46 AM JST - 11th July

yep, it is always the lowest of the scum that win... criminals and polititians. Hope she gets all his winnings too!!
Helter_Skelter at 03:21 AM JST - 11th July

he bought a winning lottery ticket in 2004 while spending a few hours outside prison under supervision.

I think the bigger story here is why a convicted felon is allowed to be out buying lottery tickets while still serving time?
HonestDictator at 06:25 AM JST - 11th July

Agreed DXXJP & Helter Skelter... how is something like that even possible. In the US criminals automatically lose their winnings (in fact they don't even get to play if I'm correct when they're incarcerated.) if they are arrested for commiting a serious crime during the winning period.
HonestDictator at 06:28 AM JST - 11th July

On a similar note a drug dealer (small fry)in the US won 6 million USD or so and was waiting for the money to be transferred into his account, but the feds forfieted his winnings because it was under the assumption the money he used to buy the ticket was with ill gotten gains xD.

This guy shouldn't have even gotten to see the reward money.