A surrogate supermum is pregnant with her seventh child.

Jill Hawkins has already given six babies away to childless couples and once vowed she would never do it again.

But now the 42-year-old from Brighton is preparing to give birth a seventh time and will hand the baby girl over to a couple from West Sussex - even though she has no children of her own.

This time, Ms Hawkins says, will definitely be her last.

She is 22 weeks pregnant with her latest surrogate child and says the couple she is carrying for are extremely excited about becoming parents for the first time.

In 2002, after giving birth to her fifth child, Ms Hawkins told The Argus she would "definitely" have no more surrogate children. However, she went on to have a sixth child and later said she would not rule out another.

Ms Hawkins has had more surrogate babies than any other childless woman in Britain.

Her latest arrangements are being kept quiet but she was paid £12,000 to conceive, carry and give birth to her fifth child, Callum. She was given £6,500 for her first baby, Lucy, in 1992.

Ms Hawkins has suffered health problems this time round and has had to stop working as a legal secretary.

She said: "I have got a tremendous lot out of this. I don't want babies - I just love being pregnant. I like the way it feels to have a baby kicking inside me but once the baby arrives, I lose interest.

"I've always known I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being responsible for one.

"There are so many people out there who are desperate for a child so to be able to do something to help them is wonderful.

"However, I am getting older now and I feel it is time to stop."

To date, Ms Hawkins has given birth to Lucy, now 14, Bertie, 12, Jamie, eight, David, five, Sam, four, and Alexandra, who will be two this month.

She first heard about surrogacy in 1985 when she read about Kim Cotton, who hit the headlines for carrying a baby for an American couple.

She got in contact with the group Childlessness Overcome by Surrogacy in 1991, giving birth to Lucy in August 1992.

Despite giving the babies away, Ms Hawkins remains in contact with them.

She said: "I see and hear from the families and the children regularly. They all know me as Jill and that I gave birth to them but they also know who their parents are. We are all good friends."