How miserly lotto rapist clings on to his wealth
Hoare adds millions to his winnings
LOTTO rapist Iorworth Hoare celebrates his 71st birthday today as Britain’s most hated millionaire but is more likely to be at home counting his money than out spending it.
The Mirror told yesterday how the serial sex attacker, who won £7.2million in 2004 while serving life for attempted rape, had been granted full access to his funds after a legal wrangle.
But it is unlikely to stop miserly Hoare grumbling on his favourite subjects – his tax bill and the fact that he had to share his lottery jackpot with two other winners, who he likes to say “robbed” him.
Hoare’s wealth has grown since 2004 thanks to a series of investments – and because he is so tight-fisted. He has boasted to friends that he was worth £10m within three years of being freed in 2005.
He has invested in property, office space, antiques and an art collection that includes work by a possible Turner Prize winner, and a Picasso sketch of a bull.
Hoare has tried to become a children’s author, sending stories under the pen name of Edward Frost to a publisher. He wanted to buy a desk once owned by Charles Dickens and was furious that the trust set up to take care of his winnings would not release the cash.
He spent his years in jail studying antiques and it is one of his few interests.
But a source close to the case told the Mirror: “Hoare collects for one reason only – to make more money. He will spend tens of thousands on new sculptors and artists but he only does it so he can sell them at a later date.
“He never gives a penny to charity and moans about his fund, the tax man, and the two other people who shared the jackpot the night he won. He kept saying, ‘They robbed me’. He wanted to keep the lot.” Hoare is believed to have made around £300,000 a year on offices rented by Devon county council in 2008.
Bradninch Hall, in Exeter, also had 45 parking spaces which made him an estimated £100,000 a year.
His beautiful detached home in rolling countryside has risen in value by around £250,000 since he bought it.
But Hoare spent years and almost £1million trying to avoid paying one of his victims compensation.
Shirley Woodman, who died last year, aged 92, was attacked by Hoare as she walked through Roundhay Park, Leeds, in 1998. He was serving life for her attempted rape when he won the lottery. Shirley then fought to change the law to remove a six-year time limit on compensation claims, which the Law Lords agreed to do in 2008.
She finally won £50,000 compensation in 2011, giving it all to good causes, and Hoare was also ordered to pay almost £800,000 legal costs.
Shirley’s daughter Shelley Wolfson, 57, from Bradford, West Yorks, has urged Hoare to give his millions to charity.
She said: “My mother gave all the money away to charity – and it is what he should be doing with his money.”
Hoare spent 30 years in jail from 1973 for one rape, three attempted rapes and two indecent assaults. In 2006, Peter Oates, 43, a market trader, was jailed indefinitely for threatening to kill him.
At the trial, Hoare said he was always looking over his shoulder, fearing attack. He said: “People shout at me. Cars go past and people shout ‘Beast’ and other abuse.”
He will spend thousands on new sculptors and artists but only so he can sell them
SOURCE CLOSE TO CASE ON HOW HOARE SPENDS HIS FORTUNE