A pizza man with his own key. Carers who brought him junk food. And £1,000 a month in benefits: How was 65st Karl allowed to eat himself to death on the taxpayer?

Carl Thompson was Britain's fattest man - he was 65st. Or, to put it another way, he weighed roughly the same as a Steinway grand piano, or five washing machines. The analogy is not meant to be disrespectful or cruel, just an illustration of what it must have been like to be imprisoned in Carl's body. Imagine trying to function while strapped, metaphorically speaking, to a piano. The truth is that Carl didn't function, he existed, barely able to move, on a 10,000-calorie-a-day diet of junk food (four times the recommended daily amount for an active man).