Lottery rapist rehoused in Sunderland granted huge £7.2million jackpot won on day release from prison after 15-year legal battle

Iorworth Hoare spent 30 years in jail for one rape, three attempted rapes and two incident assaults from 1973.

In 1989, he was sentenced to life for an attempted rape in a park in Leeds.

Hoare was given day release from Leyhill Open Prison, Gloucestershire, in 2004, and while out, he purchased a Lotto Extra ticket and won his fortune.

However, we was not allowed unlimited access to the winnings due to the conditions of his release from prison on licence.

It is understood the 70-year-old has been paid a monthly allowance of £8,666 from the jackpot since he was released in 2005.

Shortly after his release, it was revealed he had been living in Sunderland under a new identity in a modest property in Holborn Road in the Hylton Estate, with neighbours furious to learn a convicted rapist had been housed near their families.

He reportedly drank in the former Round Robin pub in Hylton Road.

Hoare later moved to Ponteland, and then to Tynedale in Northumberland, where he was reported to be living in a converted chapel.

In 2008, it was reported Hoare had launched a legal case to access the remainder of the £7.2million fortune.

It has now been revealed he has been granted full access to the cash, plus interest, after legal proceedings that lasted more than 15-years.

A Home Office source has been reported as saying there was “nothing legally” which could stop the convicted felon from accessing the cash.

Victim Shirely Woodman, a retired school teacher, sued Hoare for damages, which was contested as the claim was not made within six years.

Mrs Woodman fought to change to this law, which now in cases of serious assault will allow courts to have the discretion to change the time limit.

She won – and the major legal breakthrough has allowed other victims of sexual abuse, such as those of Jimmy Savile, to be able to claim compensation. Her campaign saw her awarded an MBE in 2012.

Mrs Woodman was awarded £50,000 in compensation from her attacker, who also shelled out £800,000 in legal costs.

She donated it all to charity and later died at the age of 92 last year. Her family have urged Hoare to do the same with his lottery winnings.

Mrs Woodman – a mother of three, grandmother of four and great-grandmother of seven – was an active member of many community groups in Roundhay, where she lived on the same road for four decades.

When her daughter Shelley Wolfson nominated her mother for an MBE in 2012, Mrs Woodman finally decided to drop her anonymity and reveal herself to the world.

Shelley said: “She didn’t want the money, and she didn’t need the money. She gave it all away. But she was magnificent. She was tenacious, determined and driven.”

This article was based on one originally appearing on the Sunderland Echo’s sister title, the Yorkshire Evening Post