A rape victim has taken the unusual step of publicly thanking her local newspaper after her compensation was nearly quadrupled after it got involved.

Caroline Fairfax Scott, (55), waived her right to anonymity in an exclusive interview with the Bristol Evening Post last year after being offered just £7,500 compensation for her ordeal.

The story prompted a huge amount of interest from the national media and this week the mother-of-two heard the award had been increased to £28,000.

She said the cash windfall would ‘buy her time’ as she attempted to rebuild her life – but she was quick to praise the role of the Evening Post.

“Without the Evening Post I honestly don’t think I would have got the outcome I did,” she said.

“Nobody wants to make the sort of headlines I have but the paper has handled the matter so sensitively.”

Her decision to go public followed a meeting with the paper’s current affairs editor, Chris Maguire, at the court case in 2000 of her attacker Stefan Molliere.

At the time she didn’t want to be named but Chris contacted her a year later and discovered she had just been offered £7,500 in compensation.

Chris said: “It was the result of a bit of good timing and a slice of good luck.

“Caroline was that outraged she agreed to be identified and the rest, as they say, is history.”

The story was followed up by a number of articles in the national press and led to several TV appearances.

With the support of her solicitor she asked for a review of the offer from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and this week it was revised to £28,000.

Caroline said: “The press can sometimes have a reputation for not caring but my experiences with the Evening Post couldn’t have been more different.

“The paper has helped me every step of the way with advice on dealing with the national press. They have kept in constant touch and have always had a kind word for me.

“Nothing can ever compensate me for what happened but the new award of £28,000 will buy me some time to try and get my life back together.”

Her life was destroyed when Molliere grabbed her from her car in Clifton, in August, 1999, punched her repeatedly about the face and raped her at knifepoint.

Following the attack she had to move house, saw the relationship with her partner crumble, undergo counselling and get prescribed anti-depressants.

Molliere – who went on to rape another woman after Caroline – was eventually jailed for 12 years after DNA tests showed the chances of anyone else being the attacker were one billion to one.

Last week she was asked to write about her experiences for the Daily Mail after Australian snooker player Quinten Hann was acquitted of raping a 21-year-old student.

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