A Virgin airlines hostess who spent just a few years sunbathing in some of the world’s hottest countries has died from skin cancer at the age of 25.

Hayley Birch from Solihull in the West Midlands visited locations that included Las Vegas, Dubai and Australia.

The Press Association reports that Miss Birch died last week, just before a fund raising ball she had organised was due to take place to raise money for the Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital's Skin Cancer Research Fund. Miss Birch’s family say the ball will go ahead.

Her mother Penny told the Daily Express:

‘It just seems so cruel and so very unfair. She was doing a job she absolutely adored and had her whole life ahead of her.’

Miss Birch used to ‘top up’ her tan every time she had time off on longhaul stopovers.

In December 2007, she discovered a mole on her leg, which was found to be cancerous. A lump in her groin developed six months later as the cancer spread. It was removed but the disease spread to her stomach, armpits and neck. Miss Birch underwent chemotherapy but learned earlier this year that her condition was terminal. She had worked for Virgin Atlantic airlines for just four years.

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