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A man thought to be the most obese person in Britain has died from a suspected heart attack aged just 22.

Liam Johnston - who weighed an astonishing 66 stone - fell ill suddenly at his home.

Paramedics were called to his terraced house in, Livingston, Scotland, and fought desperately to save his life.

However, they were unable to resuscitate Mr Johnston and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We can confirm that officers were called to assist the Ambulance and Fire Services at an address in Livingston where a 22-year-old man was taken ill on Thursday morning.

"A report surrounding the circumstances of his death - which are not being treated as suspicious - will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal at Livingston. His next of kin has been notified."

Last year Mr Johnston was fast-tracked for a gastric band operation in which the size of the stomach is reduced so a smaller amount of food is required to make you feel full.

This type of 'last resort' surgery is only available on the NHS to people with potentially life-threatening obesity when other treatments, such as lifestyle changes, haven't worked.

The procedure is carried out on around 50 obese patients a year in Scotland.

He was believed to have a Body Mass Indicator (BMI) of well over 85.

The BMI for a person of normal weight ranges from 18.5 - 24.9 and anything above 30 is regarded as obese.

In a rare interview, Mr Johnston revealed last year that he'd always been a "chubby" child.

He said: "When I ballooned to 40st I was living in a squat. "I hid myself away from the outside world, ashamed at the size I had become.

"You've no idea how difficult it is to go through something like that, to know that no one was there to talk to, for well over a year."

He claimed he was "just left to rot", adding: "I had no income. I wasn't receiving benefits and I had no source of food."

Following his death at 7.50am on Thursday, the Scottish Ambulance Service had to summon the help of the Scottish Fire Service to remove his body from his bedroom using a bed frame as a stretcher.

Teams of firefighters from the two pumps which attended removed the front door and dismantled part of the house wall and the garden fence to clear enough space carry him out to the ambulance.

His body was taken to Edinburgh City Mortuary where a post mortem examination was carried out.

Last year police charged him with fraud and he was taken to court for using stolen credit card details to order takeaway pizzas.

He admitted having four pizza meals, costing around £30 each, delivered to his then home in Whitburn, West Lothian.

A sheriff later ordered him to pay compensation totalling £120 to Domino's Pizza restaurant in Bathgate and produce a receipt.

But Mr Johnston failed to turn up for subsequent court hearings despite warrants being issued for his arrest, claiming he was "unfit" to attend.

His lawyer Alan Jackson told Livingston Sheriff Court at the time that Mr. Johnston was unable to get out of the house.