THE fiancée of a fitness fan who died just hours after winning a UK-wide bodybuilding championship has spoken of her devastation at his death.

Marguerita Norval and Dave Brown were driving home to Glasgow from St Albans when, without warning, Dave collapsed.

Marguerita, known as Mags, tried to revive him on the hard shoulder but her efforts could not bring him back.

The 30-year-old said: "We have a wee French bulldog called Odin and we had said that no matter what happened we wanted to be back for him so we headed up the road.

"About three hours in, I was driving and Dave was eating and drinking and we were just chatting about his win - he was so happy - and talking about how much we loved each other. Suddenly he fell forward.

He said: 'I know...' and then nothing.

"He made a really weird noise and I could tell he was struggling to breathe. At first I thought he was joking around and put my hand out to him. I think at that point it was already too late."

Mags called for an ambulance but, because they were still in England, she wasn't sure of their location.

While she waited for paramedics to arrive a call handler instructed her to pull Dave from the car and attempt CPR.

Mags, from Milton, said: "He was so heavy, but the adrenaline was rushing through me. I pulled him out and was breathing into his mouth.

"I did everything I could. I loved him, but I couldn't save him."

Dave, 32, who proposed to Mags a year ago, was rushed to hospital but, in the early hours of Monday, was pronounced dead.

Mags said: "We had talked about going to Las Vegas at the end of the year to get married, we were talking about it in the car. He was so thrilled to have won the championship - he never expected to win - and he was getting married and he had just opened his first gym as assistant manager of Pure Gym.

"He was taken when he was at his very happiest and I wonder how many people go when they feel they have nothing more to achieve."

Dave, son of Janette and Kerr and big brother to 30-year-old Fraser, was a fitness fanatic, working as a personal trainer at the gym.

He also co-founded the popular Man Candy Butlers and, Mags said, did fundraising for charity.

The Miami Pro UK Championships 2014, on Sunday, was his first bodybuilding competition but Mags is adamant that bodybuilding had not harmed his health.

Dave's boss at Pure Gym, Charlene Robb, took to Facebook to share her tributes to his colleague.

She wrote: "No words can describe how deeply saddened I am of the loss of Dave, my sidekick at work.

"Dave was an brilliant guy, so humble and took everything in his stride."

On Facebook friends changed their profile pictures to a photograph of Dave holding aloft his trophy from Sunday's win.

Others described him as a "true gentleman" and "lovely man".

Instead of planning her wedding, Mags is now preparing for Dave's funeral.

She said: "It's so shocking. I am still trying to understand what happened.

I don't know what I'm going to do without him."