AS some sort of picture begins to emerge of Rod Hills' last few hours, we are left to wonder how it came to this. How sad and strange that the life of the dominant York politician of the last 20 years should end on a makeshift bed on the floor of a Leeds flat.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends. The tragedy can only be made more difficult to bear by the inevitable publicity it has attracted.

York now has to adjust to life without Mr Hills. Residents had only just become accustomed to his fall from power.

When he hailed the news that York was the most profitable business city in Britain, it seemed that he was unassailable.

That was May 13, 2002. Two weeks later Mr Hills was arrested by York police. Two days after that he was suspended by the Labour Party he had joined as a teenager.

That sparked the local party's rush to disassociate itself from the man who had led it to power for so long. Back then, this appeared unseemly. In the light of subsequent events it looks far worse.

Some former allies will be asking themselves today if they could have done more for their former leader in his moment of need.

Police and prosecutors must also ask questions of their investigation into Rod Hills. All of the serious charges against him, from soliciting to blackmail, were dropped.

It was an expensive exercise for the taxpayer, but costlier still for Mr Hills, who forfeited his political career and his reputation. That began a downward spiral to his death.

Unhappily, these sensational developments have overshadowed his achievements. The Labour group remained in power throughout Mr Hills' leadership. York council became a unitary authority, then won beacon status. It adopted pioneering transport policies and reinvigorated the city economy with business initiatives such as the Science Park.

It is a political record of which Councillor Rod Hills was justifiably proud.

Updated: 11:12 Wednesday, July 30, 2003