Lotto rapist granted full access to £7.2m after 15-year legal battle

Victims’ fury as lottery rapist who scooped £7.2million while on day release from prison is granted full access to jackpot after 15-year legal battle

• Lotto rapist Iorworth Hoare, 70, has won 15-year battle to access £7.2m fortune
• He was not allowed to use all the money under prison release licence conditions
• Daughter of victim Shirley Woodman says he should donate the money to charity

A convicted rapist who won £7.2million on the Lottery has gained full access to his jackpot after a 15-year legal battle leaving his victims furious.

Iorworth Hoare, 70, bought the winning Lotto Extra ticket in August 2004 while on weekend leave from Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire while serving a sentence for rape.

He was not allowed unlimited access to his winnings due to conditions of his release from prison on licence. Hoare is understood to have been paid a monthly allowance of £8,666 after being released from prison in 2005.

Hoare could only access the rest of his £7.2million fortune if allowed to by fund trustees, consisting of a Home Office official, his lawyer and his accountant. But after starting a legal case to gain control in 2008 he can now access it, plus interest.

The daughter of one of his victims, the late Shirley Woodman – who was 59 when Hoare attempted to rape her while she was walking in Roundhay Park in Leeds, in 1988 – has urged him to give the money to charity, the Mirror reports.

Convicted rapist Iorworth Hoare (pictured in 2012), now 70, who won £7.2million on the Lottery has gained full access to his jackpot after a 15-year legal battle leaving his victims furious

The daughter of one of his victims, the late Shirley Woodman (right with daughter Shelley Wolfson) – who was 59 when Hoare attempted to rape her while she was walking in Roundhay Park in Leeds, in 1988 – has urged him to give the money to charity

Custody photo of Iorworth Hoare from 1989

A Home Office source told the paper that ‘in the end’ there was ‘nothing legally’ which could stop Hoare, originally from Seacroft, Leeds, from accessing the vast amounts of cash.

Hoare was jailed for life in 1989 for attempting to rape Mrs Woodsman. He had already had six previous convictions for rape and other sex offences since 1973.

Retired teacher Mrs Woodman sued Hoare for damages when she heard of his win but he contested the claim, arguing that victims of sex attacks must make their claims within six years.

In 2008, Mrs Woodman fought to get the law changed, winning a groundbreaking ruling from the Law Lords that, in cases of serious assault, courts would have the discretion to extend that time limit.

Mrs Woodman, who sadly died last year aged 92, successfully got compensation from her attacker, who ended up having to pay her £50,000 in damages as well as nearly £800,000 in legal costs.

Her legal breakthroughs have led to other victims of sexual abuse, such as those abused by Jimmy Saville and survivors of Rotherham grooming gangs, to be able to claim compensation.

Mrs Woodman donated her money to charity and now her daughter Shelley Wolfson, 67, after learning about Hoare’s access to his fortune, has said he should give it away to charity, just as her ‘wonderful’ mother did.

She said that Hoare could ‘do good with the money, like my mum did,’ when talking to the Mirror.

Mrs Woodman (left) donated her money to charity and now her daughter Shelley Wolfson (right), 67, after learning about Hoare’s access to his fortune, has said he should give it away to charity, just as her ‘wonderful’ mother did

Hoare was an inmate at Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire when he won the lottery jackpot while on weekend release during 2004. He was sentenced to life in 1989

Ms Wolfson, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, told the paper that people thought her mother was ‘going after his millions’ – but said she was not and she was fighting to get the law changed.

Mrs Woodsman, who had previously only been known as Mrs A, waived her right to anonymity after being awarded an MBE in 2012.

‘It was a fantastic struggle. It was a long and traumatic one and it was very hard at times,’ she told the BBC at the time.

Mrs Woodman said in 2012 that she was ‘very proud’ to receive an MBE after being nominated by her daughter, Shelley Wolfson.

She had four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, and was a key part of the community in Roundhay, Leeds. She was headteacher of the Netherlands Avenue School in Bradford.

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