The art aficionado and rapist was not showing his face yesterday in the exclusive enclave where he lives.

Iorworth Hoare, who now likes to be known as Edward Thomas, had once attempted to blend in with his neighbours in Ponteland, an affluent suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. Describing himself as a retired lawyer, he invited neighbours round for drinks and indulged his passion for arts and antiques by visting galleries and buying curios at various fairs.

Then his real identity leaked out and Mr Hoare became a pariah, albeit a wealthy one.

The day before the law lords gave their verdict, eggs had been thrown at his house. Panes of glass broken during a previous assault remain unmended. Mud has been smeared on his electronic gates.

Mr Hoare, 59, who moved to Ponteland in December 2005, after his release from prison, is rarely seen now. “He keeps a very low profile,” one neighbour said. “Occasionally you will bump into him prowling up and down the street between the shops and when I see him, it always gives me a start.” She said she was delighted that Mrs A had been given leave to claim compensation from Mr Hoare.

“It’s wonderful news, I hope she takes him for every penny he has got — then hopefully he will have to sell up and we will see the back of him for good. It shows that there is some justice in the world.”

Mr Hoare won millions with a lottery ticket that he bought while he was on day release from prison. Builders working near his home said yesterday that they had not seen him for days. Neither had the newsagent. “He pops in here for his papers and a pasty. Sometimes he goes to buy a Chinese takeway,” he said. “He keeps himself to himself.”

Since the news emerged of his lottery win in 2004, Mr Hoare has broken cover only twice. In 2006 a market trader called Peter Oates was convicted of threatening to kill him after sending him a menacing letter. Mr Hoare, appearing as Edward Thomas, told the court that he lived in constant fear of attack.

He said that motorists slowed down to shout “beast” and strangers yelled abuse in shops. He claimed that police had logged 23 incidents in the year before Oates was convicted.

In an e-mail exchange with a Sunday newspaper a year earlier he apologised for his crimes. According to the newspaper, he wrote: “I have paid my time in prison. I deserved what I got . . . if I could put back time I would, and would never have committed those awful crimes. Please allow me to live a normal life, free of aggravation and feeling like a hunted rat.”

Mr Hoare, one of nine children, is shunned by the surviving members of his family, despite having offered them large cheques. Only one sister remains in contact with him.

Yesterday there were only television crews waiting for him at his house. The local newsagent said that he would not miss his trade.

“He shouldn’t have been able to keep that money,” he said. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed that soon we’ll see a ‘for sale’ sign.”

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