THE lover of former York council leader Rod Hills today broke her silence to reveal the private life of the public man.

Julie Long, 27, said she wanted to tell how he rescued her from a life of prostitution and drugs.

She said she had been street-walking in Bristol to pay for her heroin and crack cocaine addiction when Rod picked her up in his car last autumn.

She said he later took her to Leeds, where he remained her client for some months before he eventually took her into his home in Huntington Road to try to rid her of her habit, and she became his partner.

After initially forking out up to £70 a day for her drugs, he even paid £3,000 to send her on a five-day detoxification course in Harrogate, she claimed.

By the time of his death in July - he died of natural causes in a flat in Chapeltown, Leeds, aged 57 - she says she had put her life of prostitution behind her, and kicked her habit for good.

"He took me out of that life and gave me a new life, and that's what keeps me strong. My memory of him will keep me going. I am hoping to get a job now.

"Had it not been for Rod, I would probably still be streetwalking in Bristol and on drugs. No one has ever done anything like that for me before, and I am very grateful."

But Julie claimed that, ironically, Rod had himself taken crack in the last months of his life in reaction to stress and unhappiness in his life.

She said he had confessed to her after a Leeds man had tipped her off that Rod had been seen smoking the drug in a Leeds bedsit.

"I was shocked," she said.

"I couldn't believe it at first. Here was a guy who was trying to help me come off drugs and he was taking them himself.

"I confronted him straight away. I said: 'A friend of mine has told me you were seen smoking crack."

"He said: 'Yes, I did." He never smoked it in front of me. I don't think he was addicted, but I was concerned he could become addicted." She said Rod told her he took the drug partly because of the stress caused by the police investigation into the death of his wife, Carol Wallace, but he had not, to her knowledge, been addicted.

Carol, herself a York councillor, died in 2000 in a fall at the couple's home. An inquest decided she died accidentally.

Police reopened an investigation into her death earlier this year but later ended it on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Rod had previously been involved in a high-profile criminal investigation last year, but charges including blackmail, soliciting women for prostitution and perverting the course of justice were all dropped.

Rod led the Labour group to power in York in 1984, and dominated politics in the city until he stood down last year after being charged by police. He was awarded the CBE in 1999 for services to local government.

He claimed he was the victim of a police witch hunt and also blasted the Labour Party for suspending him, saying it had let him down.

Rod Hills' family declined to comment today when informed by the Evening Press about Julie Long's interview.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, September 19, 2003