INSPIRATIONAL cancer charity fundraiser Stephen Sutton, 19, died peacefully in his sleep this morning, his mother said on his Facebook page today.

The teenager was diagnosed with bowel cancer when he was 15. Despite treatment, his tumours spread and he was informed his condition was incurable in December 2012.

Stephen was re-admitted to hospital at the weekend with breathing difficulties.

The breathlessness was due to the regrowth of tumours which were blocking the teenager's airways.

Publicity surrounding his battle with the disease has seen the teenager smash his original £10,000 fundraising target and go on to raise more than £3 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

His fund-raising efforts have attracted support from celebrities including Simon Pegg, Russell Brand and Stephen Fry, as well as music mogul Simon Cowell.

More than 135,000 individual donations have been made on Mr Sutton's Just Giving page with support coming from around the world.

Donations to the fundraising page, which he set up in January 2013 alongside a blog on Facebook, leaped last month after he posted a picture of himself in hospital with a "goodbye"message.