A HAMPSHIRE civil servant turned high class prostitute who was brutally battered and left for dead by a violent rapist, has said she was "disappointed" with a £167,000 compensation award.

Ann Markham, who was then known as Ann Fidler, was living in Eastleigh when she was attacked with bottles and an iron, and left for dead by Victor Farrant in December 1995.

Farrant, who committed the crime just weeks after finishing his sentence for an earlier rape, then murdered his former girlfriend Glenda Hoskins, a 45-year-old accountant from Portsmouth.

Farrant, 48, went on the run in southern France before being caught.

He was later extradited and jailed for the rest of his life in 1998 for the murder of Ms Hoskins and the attempted murder of Ms Markham.

The trial judge recommended that he never be released.

Ms Markham, who was making her appeal to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in central London at a private hearing yesterday, had claimed £600,000 for the attack by Farrant.

However, the criminal injuries compensation board made the award after a three-hour hearing.

The attack happened in December 1995 when she was beaten with bottles and an iron by Farrant.

The former Government aide was so badly injured that she does not remember the attack.

Her head was smashed so hard against an oven that the glass was cracked.

The force of the blow from the iron caused the casing of the device to come off, Farrant's 1998 trial jury heard.

Ms Markham required a blood transfusion of nine pints and may have died if she had been left flying on her back.

She admitted, after the hearing, that there had been a feeling of disappointment at the award.

Ms Markham said: "It was a big claim whittled down to very little because of deductions.

"There is a feeling of disappointment.

"The award has left me with problems financially for the rest of my life."

She added: "But I cannot blame the board for this."

Ms Markham was too distressed to discuss the matter further.

She has required surgery since the attack, with a part of her brain actually removed because of extensive damage to her skull.

The trial judge recommended that Farrant never be released and described him as "highly dangerous".

Ms Markham, who is now 49, was an aide to former Conservative Cabinet minister, William Waldegrave.

She was a personal secretary in the Cabinet Office and was described as a "senior official".

She joined the Cabinet Office in August 1990 and resigned in September 1993 for stress-related reasons.