THE victim of a paedophile preacher has won a landmark legal victory to sue for compensation.

In 1977, Kevin Young received a three-month prison sentence for burglary.

While at Medomsley Detention Centre, near Consett, in County Durham, he was brutally abused by prison worker Neville Husband.

Husband, who became a church minister after quitting the prison service, was jailed after admitting he carried out a gay rape campaign against teenage boys.

Mr Young, from Jarrow, South Tyneside, was one of the boys targeted by Husband and, in April 2003, lodged a compensation claim against the Home Office.

The Home Office tried to block the action on the grounds that too much time had passed since the attacks.

But, in a landmark case, Mr Young has been given permission to take his case further and could receive more than £50,000 in compensation.

The ruling, at Leeds County Court, could pave the way for thousands of other sex abuse victims to seek compensation.

Mr Young, 45, from Jarrow, South Tyneside, said: "I'm hoping that I can show other victims of abuse that there is a way forward.

"Back in 1977, I was given a three-month sentence and went in there believing that it would be of benefit to me.

"But I ended up with a life sentence at the hands of Mr Husband. I have never disputed that I deserved to go to jail at the time, but to have what I had done to me was horrifying."

Father-of-one Mr Young, who works for pressure group Survivors North-East, waived his right to anonymity after Husband's trial in February 2003.

He said: "Being abused is something that you learn to deal with. It is something that you learn to cope with - but you can never turn back time.

"I am annoyed that he was able to maintain a position of authority, but it is the system that kept him there that I am fighting now, not him."

Husband, a married 67-year-old, from Shotley Bridge, Consett, County Durham, systematically raped young men at Medomsley Detention Centre in the 1970s and 1980s.

He chose boys to work with him in the kitchens before attacking them.

In February 2003, he was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court of abusing five youngsters and was jailed for eight years.

The publicity surrounding the trial led to others coming forward and he was jailed for a further two years after admitting attacks on four more teenagers.

Mr Young's solicitor, David Greenwood, said: "Hopefully this will make it easier for hundreds if not thousands of others, who for years tried to bury the memories of this type of abusive experience at the hands of people who are supposed to be caring for them."