A BURNLEY transsexual who says she has been left 'half man, half woman' after doctors refused her breast surgery, will be instructing a legal team to fight her case in the New Year.

Cathy Ann Daniels, 57, formerly known as Keith Stanstead Daniels, appeared in the Lancashire Telegraph in September, after her GP in Burnley would not refer her for a £5,000 breast operation on the NHS to complete her man to woman transformation.

Miss Daniels, a former builder, who has three children underwent sex change in London two years ago and just needs the breast augmentation to complete the change.

But health bosses said the operation was a cosmetic procedure, not routinely funded by NHS East Lancs.

Miss Daniels, of Redvers Street, said: “I am facing another Christmas half man, half woman and that is devastating.

“The PCT has officially reviewed my case and confirmed they will not be funding my breast augmentation.

“I still intend to fight this all the way and as soon as the festive period is over I will be instructing solicitors to fight on my behalf in the courts.

“Nobody can imagine what it is like to be trapped in the wrong body and to know that I am only one step away from being who I want to be, is heartbreaking.

Especially as breasts are a really important part of being a woman.”

Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle said cosmetic surgery ‘must come second’ in the wake of health service cuts, but transgender charities say the decision is a ‘geographic lottery’.

Miss Daniels, who also has HIV, has enlisted the help of transsexual Miranda Lee, 40, from Southend who made headlines in 2009 after she won her case against her PCT for the right to breast augmentation on the NHS.

An East Lancs PCT spokesman confirmed breast augmentation was considered a cosmetic procedure and was not routinely funded by the NHS East Lancashire.