One woman’s quest for justice against the so-called Lotto rapist ended in victory this morning with a court ruling that paves the way for thousands of sex abuse victims to sue their attackers for compensation.

In a landmark ruling, five law lords swept away the current bar on historic claims being brought for sexual assault. Until now, victims have been precluded by law from bringing a claim more than six years after an attack or, in child abuses case, more than six years after reaching majority at 18.

This morning’s ruling, revealed exclusively in The Times, means that a retired teacher known only as Mrs A can seek to claim compensation for attempted rape in Leeds in 1988 from her convicted attacker, Iorworth Hoare, who subsequently scooped £7 million on the lottery.

The much wider implication also paves the way for thousands of actions by victims of child sexual abuse to claim against their attackers or more likely their employers, such as local authorities if they were in care at the time of the attack.

The law lords heard Mrs A’s case in conjunction with four other sexual abuse cases, some involving children, and voted unanimously in favour of the victims.

All five cases have been sent back to the High Court to be reconsidered in the light of the Lords ruling.

The law lords said that in all the cases High Court judges can exercise their discretion in deciding whether or not to hear compensation cases involving abuse.

Overturning the traditional six year time limit, Baroness Hale said that victims of child abuse were often reluctant to report it at the time.

“Until the 1970s people were reluctant to believe that child sexual abuse took place at all. Now we know only too well that it does. But it remains hard to protect children from it,” she said.

“This presents a challenge to a legal system which resists stale claims. Six years, let alone three, from reaching the age of majority is not long enough, especially since the age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18,” Lady Hale said.

In a statement read outside the court by solicitor Sandra Baker, Mrs A said: “I am both delighted and relieved that my appeal to the House of Lords has been successful and that I have succeeded in changing a law which will provide others in the future with a means of achieving justice.”

David Greenwood, the solicitor for Kevin Young – one of the other cases heard – estimates that there could be as many as 6,000 child sex abuse compensation cases in the pipeline.

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