FORMER York heroin dealer John Kane today made a desperate appeal for help in going straight for the first time in his life.

The 55-year-old Tang Hall man - who has spent more than half his life in prison for offences ranging from burglary, robbery and kidnap to affray, assault and drug dealing - says he has now turned his back on crime.

He says the deaths of relatives while he was in prison, the onset of panic attacks, the break-up of his marriage and a "brilliant" rehabilitation programme in an open prison have persuaded him it is time to start a new life.

"Of course I have said I'm going straight in the past without meaning it, but this time I really do mean it. I have stopped getting into fights. I am not involved in dealing."

He claims he has turned down several offers from the criminal fraternity to get back into dealing since he was released from prison on parole in February, having served more than six years of a ten-year sentence for providing what the judge described a "deals on wheels service" in York.

He says he could have earned a hundred pounds in an evening if he had accepted such offers. "But I said I wasn't interested. I think they have got the message now."

Now he is desperate to earn an honest living by getting a proper paid job in York.

However, he claims his efforts so far to find work have been hampered because his reputation has gone before him, and also because he is homeless after having split from his wife, who lives in the family home in Tang Hall.

He said City of York Council had not so far provided him with the flat he needed as a base to encourage an employer to give him a job.

"I know that what I have done is wrong, but I have served my time. All I am asking is to be given a chance," he said.

Mr Kane produced a sheaf of certificates proving he had successfully completed training courses before he left prison to gain skills in a range of areas, including operating a fork-lift, basic brick-laying, industrial cleaning and computer literacy.

He also had a glowing reference from an employer in Middlesbrough which said any future employer should have no hesitation in offering him full-time employment, as he would be a good asset to any company.

He said he also went out from prison with police officers to speak to schoolchildren who had been in trouble and warn them away from getting involved in lives of crime.

"I would love to have the chance to do something like that in York."

Michael Pavlovic, who was Kane's probation officer while at Kirklevington Grange open prison in Teesside, said today that all the evidence indicated that his claims to be a reformed character were genuine.

He said an opportunity to work was an important part of the rehabilitation process, and it would be a shame if, having been taken on by an employer in Middlesbrough and re-paid their trust, he was unable to find work in York because of his reputation.

A council spokeswoman said it understood Mr Kane's housing predicament, but it had limited vacant properties and had to make sure any such properties went to those most in need. He was not, under current legislation, considered "vulnerable". He still part-owned a property, even if he no longer lived there, and was therefore not eligible for re-housing at present.

Updated: 10:51 Tuesday, July 15, 2003