Belly dancing mum and former chip shop worker Sue Hayes says her four stone weight loss is a Turkish delight.

Sue, 31, of Bellhouse Way, Foxwood, decided enough was enough when she took up belly dancing because she had the belly for it. Her weight went up to 15 stone 8lb when she was released from hospital after an ectopic pregnancy in 1995 and received some bad news.

She said: "I got married on St Valentine's Day in 1995 and a week before the wedding I was released from hospital and my dad told me he couldn't make it to the wedding because he had cancer."

Sue's father Arthur Briggs, a plumber from Bishopthorpe, died two months later. Sue's weight soon went up as she started to comfort eat.

She said: "At 5ft 5ins tall I weighed 15 stones eight pounds at my heaviest. I was miserable and used to cry lots and stuff myself with crisps and chocolate.

"I worked in a local fish and chip shop which didn't really help.

"One day I was sitting in the back of a car and my mother told the driver to pull over and let me get in the front because the car had grated over a speed bump. I was devastated.

"My heart strings were tugged when I overheard my two daughters talking one night in bed about which friends they had fallen out with due to them calling me names relating to my weight."

A year ago, Sue, mother of Michelle, 13, Leanne, 11, Lee, eight, and Billy, three, reached 30 and stopped smoking. She joined her local Slimming World class and through their support adopted a healthy diet and started exercising.

Now she weighs 12 stone, wears a sexy bra top when she is belly dancing and has even had her belly button pierced.

Sue is taking over her Slimming World class at Edward the Confessor's Church on September 27. For more information call her on 01904 331714.