A transgender man who had a sex change 15 years ago has branded it the biggest mistake of his life and wishes he was still a woman.

Lee Harries, 60, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, was born Debbie Karemer but underwent gender reassignment surgery at the age of 44.

After years of struggling with his sexual identity, he had his breasts, uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, before doctors made a prosthetic penis for him.

But years later he says: 'I'm not meant to be a bloke' and believes he is not transgender.

Mr Harries, who married his partner Alan before he transitioned, has undergone counselling, where experts have told him he has PTSD as a result of being sexually assaulted by his father.

Lee Harries, 60, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire (pictured today left) was born Debbie Karemer (pictured as a woman right) but underwent gender reassignment surgery at the age of 44

He told the Mirror: 'I wish I could turn back the clock and just have the foresight of what the nightmare the next 15 years would be.

Pictured: Lee Harries is pictured as a little girl called Debbie

'I'm a woman I'm not meant to be a bloke. I'm trapped. It's a complete mess - where do you even start? I just regret the decision.

'I'm sure a lot of transgender men feel the same too but I'm the only one honest and brave one to come out and say it.'

Mr Harries says he feels 'mutilated' and believes he had the surgery because he thought if he did not have a vagina anymore he could not be raped.

His trauma has also left him with objectum sexuality, which means he is attracted to inanimate objects.

Mr Harries says he has developed sexual attractions to a fishing rod and a radio, before having a 'relationship' with an electric guitar.

The 60-year-old is currently on the waiting list for an NHS operation to reverse his sex change, but feels 'trapped' in his male body.

Years later Mr Harries (pictured as Debbie) says: 'I'm not meant to be a bloke' and believes he is not transgender. He says he has PTSD from sexual abuse as a child, which made him develop a sexual attraction to objects, like his electric guitar

Mr Harries, now 60, is pictured during his transition process from a woman to a man

His father's sexual abuse started when he was a teenage girl.

He had left the family home and the two had grown apart until one day he met Debbie after school.

As a youngster Mr Harries was repeatedly raped. He wanted to report his father to the authorities after the Jimmy Savile scandal, but his father died of emphysema in 2013.

While he waits for surgery, Mr Harries tells the newspaper he 'just misses being Debbie'.

Mr Harries, who married his partner Alan (pictured) before he transitioned, has undergone counselling, where experts have told him he has PTSD as a result of being sexually assaulted by his father