A former postie who once tipped the scales at a massive 444kgs has had 21kg of excess skin removed from his body in a nine and a half hour operation.

At his heaviest, Paul Mason, 54, was labelled the world’s fattest man, but he dropped down to 140kgs after having a gastric band fitted in 2010.

It left him with debilitating flaps on his legs and torso, but the NHS would not remove them.

Now Dr Jennifer Capla has operated for free at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, taking off 21kg of skin.

The surgery was said to have gone “perfectly”.

Paul’s fiancee Rebecca Mountain, 41, issued a public announcement about the successful surgery.

A few days ago Paul told an American newspaper: “Food was an escape for me...it was like going to a different world, where you felt comfort.

“When I look back at that person...who lay in the bed 24/7, just thinking about eating and nothing else, that’s not me. I don’t want to be that person.”