A woman who endured repeated violent rapes has claimed she was given “the cold shoulder” by the Probation Service when she enquired about her attacker’s release.

The victim – who has lifelong anonymity – was subjected to repeated rapes between February 2013 and March 2014 by Patrick Fitzgerald Shaw from Swiss Cottage.

Shaw was jailed for a minimum term of just under ten years in 2015.

After he was given the life sentence, she told the Ham&High she was relieved that the “sadistic psychopath and serial rapist” was behind bars.

But the woman claims she was told he could be released after just seven years in a phone call with a victim support liaison officer in 2019.

The Ministry of Justice did not respond when asked to comment on the claim.

Fearing that he might have already been released, the woman rang the Probation Service on June 29 this year.

She said: “I found myself in a predicament, I just wanted to know what area he was in so I could avoid it.

“I have to go in and out of London. And it’s just that chance meeting.

“It might be the probability that I win the lottery [is more] than a chance meeting, but I can’t afford that.

“I didn’t know if he was still in prison, if he had been released early and, if he was, then in what vicinity.”

She claims she was told on the phone that she could be given no further details about her attacker’s whereabouts due to the Data Protection Act.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson did not directly respond to this claim, but confirmed to this paper that the woman was on the victim contact scheme.

This means that she should be updated with developments, including release, and should be able to request licence conditions such as a no-contact condition, and an exclusion zone.

Shaw’s victim claims she was not aware that she was on the contact scheme, and that she was “shocked” by how hard it was to find out information from the Probation Service.

She added that the failure to initially disclose that she would be contacted through the scheme has caused her “a lot of anxiety for apparently no reason at all”.

She said: “I’m just getting a complete wall with anyone giving me help from victim support at the Probation Service.

“I just cannot believe that the criminal has more safety rights than the victim. It’s ridiculous.”