Model Heather Mills, the new love of Sir Paul McCartney, is moving to a five-bedroom house in Hove.

Heather, 31, a former swimwear model who lost her leg after she was hit by a police motorcycle in 1993, is buying the four-storey house in a backstreet in the town.

Heather has close links with the area and became interested in moving to Sussex after her doomed engagement to Brighton-based television director Chris Terrill last year.

The property has been sold by British Airways purser Matthew Cowell, 37, through Brighton estate agents Graves Jenkins. It was formerly owned by a Swiss family.

Brian Oliver, who owns the property opposite, said the house went for a reported £240,000 but nobody had seen their new celebrity neighbour. Mr Cowell is still living at the house but is in the process of moving out.

Heather, a television presenter and campaigner for disabled people's rights, met Sir Paul at an awards ceremony last year when he donated £150,000 to her charity, The Heather Mills Trust.

The meeting came just months after her break up with Mr Terrill, 47, who proposed to her while filming a documentary in Cambodia about landmine victims.

Sir Paul, who lives at Peasemarsh, near Rye, has spoken publically about his love for Heather and she has spent time at his home in Sussex. It is his first relationship since his wife Linda died of breast cancer two years ago.

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