A former inmate turned millionaire, dubbed the Lotto Rapist by the media, is being sued in civil court by a woman whom he sexually abused in 1988. The lotto rapist, Iorworth Hoare, a serial sex offender who had sexually abused or raped six other women, was found guilty and spent 16 years in prison.

During a day release from prison, Hoare purchased a winning lotto ticket that was worth £7.2 million. Mrs. A believes she is entitled to compensation from Hoare. This is Mrs A's second attempt at collecting damages for psychiatric injury she said she suffered after attempted rape incident.

In October 2005, Mr Justice Jack upheld a decision by senior High Court official Master Eyre that Mrs A's claim should be dismissed because she brought it before the courts more than six years after the assault. He cited a section of the 1980 Limitation Act involving a non-extendable six-year period. Adding insult to injury, Mrs A was also ordered to pay an estimated £100,000 towards Hoare's legal costs, while reportedly Mr. Hoare can afford the best legal counsel money can buy and is living in a Newcastle Mansion rumoured to be worth £700,000.

Her counsel in this case, Alan Newman QC, told the Master of the Rolls Sir Anthony Clarke, Lord Justice Brooke, and Lady Justice Arden that before he won £7.2 million, Hoare had no assets, and Mrs A thought it was 'neither sensible nor proportionate' to take civil action against him at that time. When she learned of his enormous lotto win, Mrs. A issued proceedings, commencing in December 2004, and obtained medical reports detailing her condition and her strives since the attack in 1988.

Mr. Newman said that the real issue lay with the 1998 Human Rights Act, and whether under it Mrs A could continue with her claim even though the six-year period specified in the 1980 Limitation Act has long since passed.

The Court of Appeal also had to consider whether the relevant part of the 1980 Limitation Act should be construed to include intentional personal injury, thereby extending the time limit and allowing her case to continue.

Mrs. A received £5,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for her suffering, which she would have to repay if she wins damages in this new proceeding.

A spokesman for DLA Piper, the law firm who is representing Mrs. A on a 'no win, no fee' basis, said that she is fighting the case on principle and rightly so. "We are doing this because we believe Mrs A and other victims should have justice."