Women in a rural village in the north of England are living in fear of their £7.2m Lotto-winning, convicted rapist neighbor. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Living in fear

Residents of a small rural village in the north of England have finally spoken out about the fear of sharing their quiet community with a convicted rapist who won £7.2m ($9.2m) on the National Lottery.

living beside a proven sex felon has become “an absolute nightmare”

Iorworth Hoare, 71, moved into a £500,000 ($645,515) church conversion in the unnamed village “a few years” back. According to neighborhood residents interviewed by the Daily Mail on Monday, however, the reality of living beside a proven sex felon has become “an absolute nightmare.”

UK courts sentenced Hoare to life in prison in 1989 for attempting to rape a retired educator, which added to six other prior convictions including rape going back to 1973.

The village’s bogeyman won his life-changing millions on the same weekend authorities allowed him to walk out of prison a free man in August 2004.

Fast-forward almost 20 years and women living near Hoare are now petrified to stay home alone with him nearby, with others driving from the village to go for walks or runs rather than meet the convicted rapist on the quiet local country roads he likes to frequent.

Walking nightmare

According to the Daily Mail, one resident of the village said Hoare, who looks fit and strong despite being in his 70s, enjoys his long walks and visits to the local shop.

likes speaking to people who do not know his background”

“He walks into nearby villages and likes speaking to people who do not know his background. They don’t know he is a rapist.”

A neighbor who wished to remain anonymous stated everyday they “see and hear” the man jailed for seven years in 1983 for indecently assaulting a housewife before dragging her into woodland and raping her.

Many residents don’t want to live in the village anymore, laying the blame on Hoare. “Why do you think we’re trying to sell? It’s all down to him,” the Mail cited one neighbor as saying. “He is supposed to be rehabilitated but someone with that record is still highly dangerous. I’m on edge and it’s always in the back of my mind that a serial rapist is just down the road.”

“Women around here don’t want to be alone with him there.”

Unwelcome presence

Interviewees from the village stated Hoare moved into the converted church after someone painted ‘Leave or Die’ on the gates of his previous home. On his release from prison in 2005, authorities supposedly kept his location secret courtesy of an operation costing £10,000 ($12,910) per month and paid for by taxpayers.

UK media tracked his whereabouts to a bail hostel

His presence, however, left residents in a Sunderland area scandalized after UK media tracked his whereabouts to a bail hostel in September 2005.

According to reports, in 2006, Hoare moved to Darras Hall, the neighborhood near Newcastle where soccer pundit and ex-England striker Alan Shearer lives, and has since moved around to “increasingly remote locations.”

Now that the UK tabloids have exposed Hoare’s latest whereabouts, it remains to be seen if he moves again, or continues to cast “a black cloud” over the fearful residents.