-- Compensation for violent crime victims nationwide

A convicted rapist won £7 million in a UK lottery after purchasing a lotto ticket while on temporary release from serving a life sentence in prison.

Iorworth Hoare, aged 52, currently earns £30,000 interest per month, but the unsuspecting community is paying out £120,000 to provide him protection granted by the Home Office, following his release in March 2005.

Before the huge win, Hoare, who was given a life term in 1989, was considered a low security prisoner at Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire, Central England. He was allowed to spend unsupervised weekends away from the jail.

Hoare began a series of brutal sex attacks in his early 20's and between 1973 and 1987, was incarcerated a number of times. Finally, in 1989 he was convicted and jailed for the attempted rape of an elderly woman in a park need Leeds.

The community and its citizens are shocked that their taxes and funding dollars are being used to house and protect a convicted serial rapist, who also happens to be a multi-millionaire.

An inquiry regarding the annual £120,000 costs associated with the protection programme which houses, provides protection and police security, probation services and psychiatric care for the convicted rapist, to the tune of £10,000 per month. It has been strongly suggested that the government should establish a protocol for such offenders, so that they would have to pay for part, and if not all, of the costs associated with care and protection.

Under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) who generally deal with released sex offenders, MAPPA sets up housing in supervised accommodation, regular visitation by probation officers, police monitoring and provides relevant information about the offender to schools and employers.

A Home Office spokesman stressed that MAPPA has no provision for identity protection and said that under the scheme released prisoners are obliged to contribute to their upkeep. Currently, approximately 1,400 people in England and Wales are currently living under MAPPA supervision.

North East Conservative MEP Martin Callanan is vehemently asking the Home Office to withdraw Hoare's protection. Callanan stated, "This is totally appalling. Someone who is so wealthy should have no need for state protection. If he doesn't feel safe in this country I am sure he could leave and no-one would shed any tears." Similarly, General Secretary Harry Fletcher of the probation union NAPO begged ministers to think about means-testing offenders who need constant management and security.