Former popular glamour model Suzanne Mizzi, who was born in Malta on 1 December 1967, has died aged 43 after losing her battle against cancer.

Suzanne, who leaves behind her husband Frank, whom she had known for 30 years, and two young children, died on Sunday afternoon at St Joseph's hospice in Hackney, east London, near her home.

She divided her time between family homes in London, Spain and Malta and had been battling ovarian cancer for more than a year.

Mrs Mizzi made regular appearances as a Page Three girl in the British newspaper The Sun during the 1980s and 1990s, before going on to have a career as a catwalk model, as well as becoming a minor film and pop star.

She made her Page 3 debut in 1984 aged 17 and immediately endeared herself to the public. In the first six months of her modelling career, Mizzi shot 26 calendars and was in high demand for personal appearances, to the extent that she was getting more than £1,000 a time for personal appearances.

In 1987 she signed with a top modelling agency and began doing fashion shoots, something which led to a career as a catwalk model working with Vivienne Westwood. In 1989, a lingerie company insured her face and body for £11million.

Legendary Page 3 photographer Beverley Goodway, whose pictures turned her into a star, said on The Sun’s news portal: “It is tremendously sad news. She was one of Page 3's most successful and best-loved models. She was exquisitely pretty, just gorgeous, with amazing eyes, and the readers loved her”.