DEVOTED partner Ben Watkins collapsed and died after suffering a brain haemorrhage, aged just 19.

He and fiance Kerryanne Davies, pictured, had just celebrated their first year together, and planned a dream wedding in Cancun, Mexico, later this year.

But now she has had to explain to her two daughters, Chelsea, six, and Kenzie, two, that the man they cherished is not coming home.

Ben died of a brain haemorrhage on Tuesday, after collapsing at the home they shared in Alexandra Place, Newbridge, on Monday.

Kerryanne, 26, said: "He was so full of life. He loved life, and everyone thought the world of him.

"We were so happy. We were besotted with each other and everyone could see it.

"There was nothing we ever did without each other, nothing at all. Even silly little things like going to bed at the same time."

The former pupil of Oakdale Comprehensive collapsed while weightlifting in his garage.

He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Gwent Hospital, New-port, and admitted to the intensive care unit.

Ben never gained consciousness. He died the next day, having suffered a spontaneous haemorrhage. Kerryanne and his parents, Judith and Chris, were at his bedside.

Kerryanne said: "The doctor said it was just one of those things. There was a weakness there. It was just a time-bomb waiting to go off. There was no way of knowing, Ben was perfectly fit and healthy."

Ben was a machine operator for Britax Aircraft Seating in Llantarnam.

"The managing director came to visit after Ben died," said Kerryanne.

"He said that Ben would have been promoted to senior operator on the day he collapsed.

They were going to tell him, but he never turned up for work. He loved his job, and was working hard for that promotion. He never knew he had got it."

Ben and Kerryanne met in Newbridge on New Year's Eve, 2001. The couple soon moved in together, and Ben became a father figure to Kerryanne's two daughters.

"The kids weren't his, but within weeks they loved him," she said. "The other day Chelsea said, 'can we pretend you have had the wedding and that he was my stepdad anyway?' I said he was her stepdad, and always will be. Kenzie is a bit too young to understand - she still thinks he's coming back."

She added: "He proposed to me in August. He really wanted to get married, and we wanted to do something special.

Ben's father, Chris Watkins, said: "You have no idea how hard it is. It is such a terrible shock, so unexpected. Ben lived life at a hundred miles an hour. For a 19-year-old he had done a lot, and still had a lot to do. He was deeply in love with Kerryanne, she was his life, and his dream was to get married to her."

Ben's funeral is to take place on Wednesday, at Woodfield Park Funeral Home, Blackwood, followed by cremation at Gwent Crematorium, Croesyceiliog. The family say all are welcome, and flowers may be sent to the funeral home.