A 40-stone man who died because he could not stop eating has been laid to rest.

More than 150 people turned out to pay their respects to Chris Leppard, the 25-year-old from St Leonards who spent six months of the final year of his life trapped in an armchair.

In life, Chris had at times faced brutal taunting by people who did not understand the rare genetic condition he suffered from which meant he never felt full.

But he was fondly thought of by many in his home town, where he became a local celebrity for having the courage to talk about his condition on TV and in newspapers.

The young man, who dreamed of playing professional football and working as a chef, was born with the over-eating disorder Prader-Willi Syndrome.

Chris died last month at the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards after rising to his heaviest ever weight.

He was buried yesterday at Hastings Crematorium in a family ceremony before the arrival of mourners for a half-hour private service.

His mother Anne followed behind as a hearse carried flowers into the crematorium spelling out messages including Our Chris and My Boy.

Some of the mourners wore Arsenal football shirts in recognition of Mr Leppard's support for the north London team.

Although a large child, Chris was not diagnosed with Prader-Willi until the age of 13.

He gained a stone a year until he reached 18 and by the time he was 23, he tipped the scales at 25 stone.

At the height of his illness he admitted he would eat £9,000 of food a year.

His heartbroken mother Anne has blamed the medical profession and social services for failing to recognise Chris' problem when he was younger.

She believes if he had been diagnosed earlier the family could have had the chance to deal with it.

In 2005 morbidly obese Chris was sectioned under the Mental Health Act against his family's wishes. He spent seven days at the Eastbourne Clinic after social services said they had acted for his safety.

Chris discharged himself and managed to shed nine stones at home. But a fall in October last year left him in too much pain to exercise or even walk.

In his final weeks, Chris said he was glad he had enjoyed the comforts of living with his family and had not spent his life in an institution.

Doctors gave Mr Leppard a fortnight to live in April after six months spent confined to his home led to massive weight gain.

Courageous Chris, with his trademark dry sense of humour, said he dreamed of a happier state in Heaven where he would "play for Arsenal, date Anna Kournikova and feast on fry-ups for breakfast, macaroni cheese for lunch and steak and chips for dinner."

Prader-Willi syndrome was first described in 1956 by three Swiss doctors and stems from a flaw in the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus, which determines hunger.

There are believed to be about 2,000 cases of the incurable condition in the UK, affecting around one in 22,000 babies.