Sex-change lawyer Susan Marshall spoke last night of her "bitter disappointment" after two British transsexuals lost their fight to be legally recognised as women.

Kristina Sheffield and Rachel Horsham hoped a judgement in the European Court of Human Rights would allow all transsexuals to alter their birth certificates to say they are women.

But judges ruled by 11-9 that the British Government had not violated their human rights under the European Convention.

Ms Marshall, 51, home bursar at Exeter College, Oxford, is herself suing the Crown Prosecution Service on the grounds of sex discrimination after she had a job offer withdrawn.

Speaking on the European judgement, she said: "I am bitterly disappointed.

"For some reason in Britain we are allowed to change our name and have hormone replacement treatment but we cannot change our status."

She added: "There is still a lot of bigotry and intolerance about.

"The bottom line of this judgement is that it can continue because legally transsexuals are just men in frocks."

Ms Sheffield and Ms Horsham claimed they had endured discrimination and threats to privacy as a result of their legal status as men. Campaigners say simple acts, such as obtaining car insurance and a pension, can become a nightmare in which applicants are obliged to reveal details of their medical history and former identity to strangers.

Ms Marshall said: "In other European countries where it is possible to change your sex, it is possible to change your status. "In this country, your status is still based on a snap judgement made by a doctor in the few minutes after you are born."

Ms Marshall is hoping to receive a settlement from the CPS, after she sued for damages.

She claims she had a job offer withdrawn in 1993 after she wrote a confidential letter revealing she was planning to have a sex change operation.

Ms Marshall has already been backed by an industrial tribunal and an employment appeals tribunal.

The case will go to the Court of Appeal in October if the CPS does not pay up.

Ms Marshall was one of two Oxford professionals to speak publicly about their sex changes last year, following in the footsteps of east Oxford doctor Joanna Browne.

Three other cases relating to the treatment of transsexuals under English law will be considered by the new European Court of Human Rights later in the year.

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