A victim of a frenzied knife attack by a convicted killer has been awarded less than £5,000 in compensation for her permanent injuries.

Nicola Hirst, of Allerton, narrowly escaped death in October 2000 when paranoid schizophrenic and convicted murderer Noel Dooley knifed her 43 times in Bradford's Listerhills red light area, and left her for dead.

Miss Hirst mounted a five-year battle to get the level of the award increased.

Yesterday at a hearing in Leeds the Independent Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel - a department of the Home Office - advised Miss Hirst to withdraw her appeal and accept the £4,337.50 offered after she earlier received £1,000.

Miss Hirst, 30, said: "I am devastated with the amount awarded to me. They did not even listen to the full details of my case.

"My life has been destroyed by the attack and the award doesn't reflect that.

"My injuries were physical and psychological, I don't think I will ever get over the attack. They have made me feel like I was the criminal instead of the victim. I don't understand the system at all."

Miss Hirst's initial bid for compensation in 2002 was totally rejected by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

But after she appealed, the authority decided this year to offer her £5,337.50, reduced from £10,675 because of her criminal convictions and her character.

Miss Hirst rejected that offer and decided to appeal.

She said: "My legal team were advised by the panel that I risked getting nothing if I did not accept the award offered.

"I couldn't risk getting nothing at all but I feel cheated by the whole process. It has been anything but fair."

She said she would have very little left of the award after she had paid her legal costs.

Her solicitor Sajit Abbas said the offer was on a par with amounts offered to whiplash victims in car crashes.

But the injuries Nicola had sustained were horrific and permanent. He said: "Her body is completely covered in scars, she has lost the full use of her hands and has been psychologically traumatised."

A recent psychiatric report said Nicola will never recover from the attack. A spokesman from the ICICAP said they could not comment on the case.

Prior to the appeal a spokesman from the CICA said: "We make compensation payments according to the severity of the injuries a person has suffered and in line with a tariff of injuries approved by Parliament.

"The scheme requires us to take account of any unspent criminal convictions."