By Hugh Dougherty, New York
THE mistress of New York's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, was yesterday banned from his official residence at the request of his estranged wife.Judith Nathan was told she could not go to visit her lover at the home he still shares with the wife he is divorcing, Donna Hanover.

New York judge Judith Gische said Ms Nathan, a 46-year-old divorcee, was banned from Gracie Mansion while the Giuliani children continued to live there.

The mayor's bitter divorce battle has enthralled New Yorkers, with their tough mayor, famous for his crackdown on crime and violence, now locked in battle with his wife.

His lawyer described her as an ''unfit mother'' and told how she had banished him to a guest bedroom and ignored his ordeal as he battled prostate cancer and was violently ill as a result of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Ms Hanover's lawyer accused the mayor of ''flaunting his mistress'' in front of his public and his children, Andrew, 15, and Caroline, 11.

The public battle is likely to continue after the judge yesterday ruled out a gagging order which the mayor had requested to keep the struggle out of the spotlight.

Giuliani, 56, had earlier tried to damp the fire surrounding his split, saying it was nobody's business but his own.

''There's not a single person in Queens or Staten Island or Brooklyn or Manhattan that has any more problems with the budget, has any more issues as a result of my personal difficulties,'' he told the New York Daily News.

The hardline mayor has been credited with bringing safety to the crime-ridden streets of America's biggest city and prompting a boom in tourism during his eight-year term, which ends in December.

But his fractured personal life threatens to overwhelm his achievements, as he and his estranged wife play out their troubles in public.

He announced he was divorcing his wife after revealing he was suffering from cancer, which forced him to pull out of a bid for the US senate seat subsequently won by Hillary Clinton.

Last week, Giuliani had spoken for the first time of his love for Ms Nathan, whom he had previously described as ''a very close friend''.

''My relationship with Judi Nathan is an adult love,'' he said. "I hope it's going to go on forever.

Giuliani's previous marriage had been annulled by the Catholic Church when he claimed he had not realised his first wife was his second cousin when they wed, allowing him to marry Ms Hanover, a match which had lasted 16 years.