Jack Taylor, the Bradford man believed to be one of the country's heaviest people, has died at the age of 60.

Big Jack, as he was known to his friends, died in his sleep on Saturday.

Mr Taylor, who was 6ft 3ins tall and weighed 50 stone, is understood to have died of a heart attack at his home in Sedgwick Avenue, Manningham.

Saddened neighbours looked on as eight fireman helped to carry him out of his home.

Mr Taylor wore trousers with a 71-inch waist and was known to eat more than 15

tandoori naans in one sitting.

The gentle giant shot to fame in 2000 after the Telegraph & Argus revealed how he had not ventured outside for nearly 30 years for fear of being ridiculed about his weight.

Mr Taylor said he feared cars would crash as their drivers diverted their attention from the road to his massive frame.

He went on to appear in the pages of newspapers nationally and abroad and was inundated with requests from documentary makers across the world.

He appeared on Channel 4's Big Breakfast and featured on an ITV Real Life documentary about Britain's fattest men. He was also the subject of a German documentary which compared him to the Spice Girls and the royal family as great British icons.

Mr Taylor remained humble despite his new found media celebrity and turned down many of the offers which flooded in to him, including an all expenses paid holiday trip to be photographed with models.

Today shocked neighbours of Mr Taylor paid tribute to him.

One resident, who declined to be named, said: "He was such a nice man who never bother bothered anyone. It is a real shame - God help him."

Another said said: "It's a real shock. His mother lived in the same house as him but she died just a few years ago. I could not believe it when we heard he had died."

Mr Taylor had been ill for the past two years when he broke his leg in a fall at his home. He spent eight months in hospital recovering before returning home.

He had to make use of a Zimmer frame to get around his house and did not venture beyond his garden.

The former security guard, is to be buried tomorrow at Rawdon Cemetery.