When Julia hit rock bottom she found herself in a pit of despair dependent on drugs and prostituting herself to pay for the habit. But with sheer strength of will and a man's belief in her she has pulled herself out of hell. Here she talks to KATE THOMPSON about her battle...

WHEN Julia was working on the streets she used to wear a red dress, knee-high black boots and a long, black leather coat.

Now, as a happily married mother to eight-month old Charlotte, she favours comfy cardigans and likes nothing more than a night in watching telly.

"My mum couldn't believe it when I rang her up and told her I had just bought a cardigan!" said Julia.

The transformation could not be more dramatic. As she shows me photos of herself as she looked when she was plying her trade on Southampton's streets, it's hard to believe the hard-faced girl in the pictures is the same doting mother seated before me.

Julia's is a disturbing story of abuse, personal neglect and despair - and she is lucky to be alive.

The most disturbing aspect of her story is that in so many ways, Julia was just like other young girls.

She loved learning about science and as a small girl she even had her own microscope.

Her mum Carolyn recalled: "She was just like any other little girl. She loved learning about science and wanted to be a doctor or a vet.

"She was bright and had a wonderful future ahead of her but it all went off at a tangent.

"I now realise that if this could happen to our family, it could happen to anyone."

Her childhood was disfigured when she was abused by family members - and very quickly her innocence was shattered.

When she tried to say what had happened to her, she was not believed and she was frightened that if she took her allegations further, the family would be destroyed.

Her abusers shifted the blame on to the shoulders of the little girl and in response she hid behind a tough exterior shell.

As time went by she was to become even tougher as her life took a further downward slide.

So-called boyfriends pretended to care and the vulnerable teenager fell for their charms. But all they did was fill her with drugs and booze, fuelling her dependency.

At first she took cannabis and Ecstasy and progressed to cocaine. Then one fateful day her 'boyfriend' brought her crack cocaine - and she was well and truly hooked.

Eventually he said he could not afford to supply her any more and she must go on the game to finance her habit.

"I remember being a bit scared the first time but I soon got used to it. I had to be off my face to be able to do it.

"Men liked me because I was only 16 - there were some girls there who were working who were only 13 or 14 and everyone was on drugs," she said.

She started off working for agencies but ended up walking the streets in Southampton.

Men were willing to pay well for the services of the 16-year-old.

She would take hundreds of pounds in a day but had nothing to show for it as all the money went on drugs.

"I had to be off my face to be able to do it. At the start of the evening I would drink and then after I'd had my first punter I would get drugs and so I could carry on," she said.

Her life became more and more squalid and her expectations diminished.

The girl who once dreamed of being a doctor or a vet could see nothing more than a life as a junkie unfolding before her.

"We lived in disgusting places - you would not believe how awful it was. I couldn't see it myself 'cos all I was interested in was the drugs," she said.

Every time Julia tried to get herself out of the mess that was now her life, circumstances conspired against her. The grip of the drugs was too strong - and it was too easy being able to earn money selling her body.

It was the love of a good man that changed her world - and the birth of her daughter that gave her something else to believe in.

"I had to have something that was more important to me than the drugs and that is my daughter," she said.

Julia jokes that her life is now so boring - but she loves the normality.

Whereas she used to be working on the streets until the early hours and spending her days recovering from the excesses of the previous hours, now her days are spent in a totally different way.

"I go to college in the morning and pick up my daughter at lunchtime. I take her home, look after her in the afternoon, and then in the evening settle back to watch my soap operas - I love it.

"I do think about how much my life has changed and I am so glad.

"It has been difficult but Charlotte and my husband have made it worthwhile," she said.

CAROLYN'S STORY:

THE NIGHTMARE is finally over for Carolyn and her daughter Julia.

Prior to their family breakdown, the two had shared a close and loving relationship.

Now they are rebuilding the bond and getting over the hurt and guilt.

No mother wants to see her daughter suffer as Julia has and Carolyn is still coming to terms with the full horror of the situation.

"It has been very shocking for me as a mum to see what has happened to Julia - it is all so sordid.

"She hadn't been brought up like that and when this happened to my daughter, I just couldn't understand how she got there," she said.

Julia's decline started as Carolyn began a new relationship. Until she fell in love, she had been a single mum working hard to look after her three children.

The distraction of the new relationship meant Carolyn did not pick up the warning signals - and then it was too late. Suddenly her daughter was a drug addict riding high on crack cocaine - and prostitution was the only way she could finance her habit.

When Carolyn feared her daughter was selling her body, she went down to the city centre and spoke to other girls on the street.

"I found out from another prostitute that she was working there.

"I went down to try and find her and I saw her getting into a man's car - it was dreadful. I didn't give birth to Julia to have her end up as a prostitute," she said.

She tried to help her daughter but the drugs made it impossible to make any sort of connection with her. Any kindness was immediately rebuffed by Julia - all she cared about was where her next fix was coming from.

"There were awful times when I didn't really know what was happening to Julia.

"Every time the police picked her up they would contact me - it was awful. There was even a time when they rang me because a girl's body had been found and they thought it was Julia.

"It was a terrible time," she said.

It was only when Carolyn's relationship with her new lover fell apart, and she was on her own again, that a change came about.

Carolyn started to get her life together - she was studying at college and eventually landed a role in management - and Julia's life was changing too.

She met the man who was to become her husband and with his help she turned her back on drugs and gave up the prostitution.

"She was incredibly strong - and I am so proud of what she has achieved.

"She went cold turkey and through her strength of character, she literally changed her life," Carolyn said.

As a doting grandmother, Carolyn loves to share in the new life of her daughter and granddaughter and she is so grateful that they have all got their lives back on track.

"All our lives went off at a tangent for a while - it all went pear-shaped.

"The scary thing is that if this could happen to us, it could happen to any other family too.

"The important thing now is that we know we will never let anything like this happen again," said Carolyn.