World’s former fattest man, now 40st, is moving back to UK for £100,000 of NHS care…but he denies being a sponger
Paul Mason, who was once 79st, moved to the US but now wants to come home
HUGELY-obese Paul Mason denied sponging off the taxpayer — as he prepared to fly home to Britain because America will not fund his £100,000 medical treatment.
Ex-postie Paul, 58, moved to the US seeking a new life five years ago after an NHS stomach operation allowed him to slim down from 70st to 19st.
But his weight ballooned again to 40st when he started comfort- eating following a split with his American girlfriend.
Paul, once described as the world’s fattest man, said: “I can understand people in Britain saying, ‘Why should my tax pay for him?’
“But I’m no sponger — I deserve it as much as any Brit. I contributed to society when I was working.
“We all fall apart when things get tough. Doing it over here in America has been the worst thing I could have done because there’s no support. But there is in the UK.”
Paul, from Ipswich, slimmed down after the NHS gave him a gastric bypass — surgery that effectively reduces the size of the stomach.
'NOT TO BLAME'
He insists he is not to blame for piling the stones back on in America by gorging on pizza, potatoes, burgers and crisps in the wake of his romantic upheaval.
Paul said: “You don’t choose this lifestyle. The addiction never goes away. You don’t conquer it. You can just keep it at bay.”
Unrepentant Paul now insists binge eating is better than sex.
He said: “You know when you orgasm you get a really good strong sexual feeling? It’s like that, but contentment as well.”
But Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “Bypass patients know they have to reduce food intake and think more carefully about what they eat.
“Paul’s health problems are therefore his fault. The NHS should not be forced to clean up this mess.
You know when you orgasm you get a really good strong sexual feeling? Eating is like that, but contentment as well.
Paul Mason
“It’s pretty ripe of him to expect us to pick up the pieces. As far as I’m concerned when he moved to America he forfeited his right to NHS treatment.”
Paul says he needs surgery to replace his knees, repair eight stomach hernias and adjust his bypass.
He also needs continual medication, monthly iron transfusions, counselling sessions, mobility aids and home modifications.
The total bill is estimated at around £108,000. If jobless Paul ends up in council housing that bill will be higher.
He moved to the US in 2014 for surgery to remove the flaps of loose skin left by his weight loss.
He was on a one-year health visa but stayed on illegally after finding love with 8st Rebecca Mountain, 46. When they split in March he began bingeing.
20,000 CALORIES A DAY
Paul, who has been living in Massachusetts, said: “I eat a lot of potatoes. A family size bag of crisps lasts me a day but if I’m having a bad time I’ll start the next bag during the night.”
He has a small oven next to his bed to prepare emergency snacks during the night.
Paul, who can only get around on sticks, a walking frame or in a mobility scooter, discovered just the surgery he wants would cost him £18,000 in America — and he has spent all his savings.
He now plans to contact NHS healthcare providers as soon as he arrives in the UK. Paul’s problems in the US have not all been weight-related.
In March 2018 he stole £175 of aftershave, perfume, phone chargers and earphones from a Walmart. He was fined £200.
In November Paul and a female friend were caught stealing £800 of food.
The massive haul, including pizzas, bags of meat, cheese, sweets and a cheesecake big enough to feed 20 people, were found in his scooter’s trolley and the pair’s car.
'THIS TAKES THE BISCUIT'
He was fined another £200. Payment of that fine is still outstanding and a warrant for Paul’s arrest is due to be issued tomorrow — the day he will fly home.
In 1989 Paul was sacked as a postman and jailed for six months for stealing cash from letters. He said he needed it to pay for food cravings.
He become known as the world’s fattest man after he had to be evacuated from his Ipswich home by forklift truck.
At the time he was eating 20,000 calories a day. He had the gastric bypass in 2009.
The Sun says
THE NHS is there for all of us when we need it.
But that doesn’t mean you can just abandon personal responsibility and demand taxpayers will bail you out.
On that point, Paul Mason has pushed our sympathy to breaking point.
And we worry the sense of entitlement that he displays when he opens his mouth is becoming 21st century Britain’s disease
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By 2014 Paul’s care was costing UK taxpayers £100,000 a year. The total bill was estimated at £1.5million.
Paul, who has booked two seats for the flight home, hopes to set up an advisory service for obese people when he is back in the UK.
James Roberts, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “As a British citizen Paul is entitled to free healthcare — but this really takes the biscuit. The NHS should not be a back-up option for health problems abroad.”
Paul is starring in a documentary about his life in the US called The World's Fattest - The Big American Adventure, which will be released at the end of the summer.
Describing the film, producer David Pounds said: "This is a film on the serious challenges facing a man with food addiction and trying to survive in the USA. Paul is like a cat with nine lives, he keeps bouncing back and he now hopes life in the UK will keep him alive."
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