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October 6, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 5:05pm

It’s champagne all round after Sun wins paperchase for ‘Lotto rapist’

By Press Gazette

By Dominic Ponsford

Sun journalists this week celebrated winning a Fleet Street
paperchase to rival the hunt for Lord Lucan, when they tracked down
“Lotto rapist” Iorworth Hoare.

Sun managing editor Graham Dudman said that almost every reporter
and photographer on the paper had been involved at some stage in the
hunt for Hoare.

The paper revealed on Friday that the serial
rapist, who won £7m on the lottery while still in prison, was living in
Sunderland at a cost to the Home Office of £10,000 a month. The news
has prompted a Government inquiry into the cost of protecting released
prisoners.

Dudman said: “When he first got out, every paper had
teams of people looking for him. We went north, south, east and west
following tip-offs all over the country “Every time we ran a story
about himwe were inundated with tips and phone calls from people who
said they’d seen him – all of which we checked out and virtually all of
which turned out to be red herrings.

“We eventually found him from a bit of information and some good detective work that turned into an address.”

Delighted
Sun editor Rebekah Wade rewarded the news and picture desks with a
Nebuchadnezzar of champagne (equivalent to 20 bottles) each.

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