Daniel Fleetwood, the terminally ill Star Wars fan who sparked an international social media campaign to let him see The Force Awakens before its global release, has died.

Ashley Fleetwood confirmed in a post on her Facebook page that her husband “passed in his sleep and in peace”.

“Daniel put up an amazing fight to the very end. He is now one with God and with the force,” she wrote.

“He will always be my idol and my hero… Rest in peace my love.”

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The #ForceForDaniel campaign attracted the support of Luke Skywalker himself, actor Mark Hamill, along with Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and John Boyega, who stars in The Force Awakens as a new character called Finn.

Mr Fleetwood got his wish to see the new film on Thursday (local time) last week, with his wife announcing it on Facebook and Time reporting that a Disney spokesperson had confirmed the special screening.

Mr Fleetwood, who had been a fan of the Star Wars films since the age of eight, was diagnosed two years ago with the rare connective tissue cancer, spindle cell sarcoma.

In September, he had been given one or two months to live and by the time of the preview screening, it was reported that his lungs were 90 per cent covered in tumours.

The hashtag #forcefordaniel saw an outpouring of tributes on Twitter, with many thanking JJ Abrams and his production company Bad Robot for having allowed the preview screening.