MASSIVE Paul Mason WANTED to become the world's heaviest man, it was revealed last night.
His bizarre ambition came to light three years ago after he lost 20 stone in hospital.
Paul, now 48, told stunned staff his weight loss was not what he really yearned for.
A health care insider said: "When he left he moaned he was missing the chance of becoming the world's heaviest man.
"And when he got home he ordered takeaway pizzas, curries and Chinese meals.
"He was often seen going through the McDonald's drive-thru section for cars in his special wheelchair. No one could stop him eating. It was so tragic."
In his bid to become a record-breaker, 70-stone Paul scoffed whole boxes of Sugar Puffs in one go.
And on Fridays he made for a chip shop with his carers at lunchtime - AND in the evening.
Bob Singh Phagura, manager of the Nacton Road Fish Bar in Ipswich, Suffolk, said: "He would wait outside as we couldn't fit him or his wheelchair into the shop.
"His carers would take away the food. It was ten times more than a normal person would eat.
"He would order four large cod, two pies, four battered sausages and six large portions of chips, along with mushy peas and curry sauce. He'd wash it down with a couple of bottles of Coke."
Lean ... young Paul with sisters Louise and Judith, and mum
It also emerged last night the cost of Paul's care over the last few years has topped£1MILLION.
And he ATE his mother out of house and home as the cost of his scoffing meant she could not keep up with mortgage repayments, leading to repossession.
Paul, who stands 5ft 6in, is now virtually immobile. And there are no more trips to the chippie.
He lies nearly all day and night on a reinforced bed on the ground floor of a specially-built housing association bungalow.
It has 5ft wide doors so he does not get stuck in the frames.
The former mechanic and postman receives £67.50 per week in incapacity benefit and a housing payout to cover his rent.
He relies on a team of seven NHS carers, working three eight-hour shifts, to cook his food and clean up after him.
The carers, costing an estimated £100,000 a year, give him breakfast in bed before making sure he is washed and wearing clean clothes. If Paul gets too hot he asks them to turn on a fan placed beside him.
A hoist lifts him up so he can watch TV, use his games console or surf the internet using a keyboard that rests on his stomach.
The bathroom has a reinforced toilet seat and bath.
The only things Paul can do for himself are eat his 20,000-calorie per day meals - eight times the recommended intake for a man - and clean his teeth.
A physiotherapist visits to stretch his legs and perform chest massages to prevent deep vein thrombosis and pneumonia.
Repossessed house ... Janet
The carers also turn him regularly to combat bed sores.
Neighbours said they had seen him only once in the past six months, when he enjoyed a summer barbecue on his drive while lying on his bed. Plasterer Nathan Smith, 28, said: "His carer was cooking for him." Another neighbour, Sue Horne, 55, was sympathetic. She said: "Paul's a really nice bloke and seems happy despite everything. I feel sorry for him."
Paul's mum Janet died six weeks ago aged 75.
Last night his tearful sister Louise, 43, said his compulsive eating had torn the family apart - and left her and fellow sibling Judith with nothing. Paul - a stick-thin soccer-playing lad in his youth - moved back in with arthritis sufferer Janet in 1990 after two relationships fell apart. He cared for Janet for a while but ended up barely able to walk as he ballooned.
Louise said he had a huge fry-up for breakfast, a king-size kebab for lunch, fish and chips for tea and another fry-up for supper.
She told how their father Roy, who like Janet weighed 20st-plus, paid off the mortgage on the family's £100,000 terraced home before he died in 1986. But Janet was forced to re-mortgage due to Paul's food bills - then had the house repossessed when she failed to meet repayments.
As a result there was nothing in her will for Louise and Judith. Louise said: "I still love Paul, but what he does just breaks my heart."
The Sun told yesterday how Paul is set for drastic stomach surgery to stop him eating and keep him alive.
It will cost the NHS £20,000. Obesity expert David Haslam said a "phenomenal amount" had been spent on Paul over the past seven years.
He added: "If you add up all the GP visits, hospital visits, visits from carers and nurses, transport costs, disability living allowance, home adaptation and home help from social services it comes to £1million."
Paul featured in a TV documentary about obesity in 2006. In the show, made by Raw Television and aired on More 4, he argued it was his "human right" to be housed and given handouts.
He said: "I never made myself like this. I don't want to be like this."
Interviewer Giles Coren, the food critic, left and said outside: "I had to get out of there. The victim mentality is a little bit hard to bear."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/
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