A VICTIM of Lotto rapist Iorworth Hoare appears to have won a landmark legal ruling allowing her to sue the millionaire.

The retired teacher, identified only as Mrs A, is on the verge of succeeding in persuading five Law Lords to correct a law barring her from taking action because she is outside the six-year time limit.

Hoare, 58, was not worth suing until he won £7m on the Lotto Extra in 2004 after buying a ticket in Middlesbrough while on day release from prison.

He was jailed for life in 1989 and spent 16 years in prison for the attempted rape of Mrs A and six other women he had attacked.

Months after his win, he was released on parole and now lives in a £700,000 mansion, in Darras Hall, Newcastle, near former Newcastle United star Alan Shearer.

The Law Lords have indicated that they plan to allow an extension of the limitation period, enabling Mrs A and others to press for compensation, according to her lawyers.

Damian Cross, a solicitor at DLA Piper, said: "On the basis of a successful appeal by Mrs A, victims of intentional assault will be able to pursue the perpetrators at the discretion of the court outside of the normal time limit."

"I have spoken to Mrs A and she is ecstatic.

"She has always wanted to pursue justice for herself and others and she is relieved, as well as very pleased, that her efforts will almost certainly prove to be successful.

"The case before the House Of Lords was notable because it dealt with an important matter of law which the Court of Appeal had previously indicated was both incoherent and seriously deficient."

Two previous courts had interpreted the Limitation Act 1980 to mean that a victim of an assault such as Mrs A was prevented from making a claim against Hoare, originally from Seacroft, Leeds, because she was outside the six-year time limit.

The Law Lords were to have heard evidence from five cases, but after hearing the first issue, the Lords said they had heard enough to be able to make their judgement.

Mrs A 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 1988.

She received £5,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board after the attack 19 years ago.

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.

She said in a previous statement: "I've never doubted that I'm doing the right thing on behalf of myself and, hopefully, many others.

"I genuinely believe that the law is wrong and that presently gives unfair results.

"I've lived with the trauma of the assault for many years and I feel that justice will be served by me being able to claim what would be relatively modest compensation from Iorworth Hoare."

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

Mrs A, 78, was 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.

Although most claims for damages for physical or psychiatric injury now have an extendable three-year limitation period from the date of the claimant's "knowledge", claims for damages arising out of an intentional sexual assault have a non-extendable sixyear limitation period from the date of the assault - or the claimant's 18th birthday, if later.

Mrs A was unable to use the Human Rights Act to help her because the six-year limitation period had expired before the law came into force.

The case was heard alongside four others involving sexual abuse. The victims want to bring actions for compensation against local authorities who placed them in care. The Law Lords will give a written ruling at a later date.