A woman who hit the headlines for agreeing to give birth to a child for a gay couple cannot have children, it emerged today.

Janie Davies is furious a story appeared in a series of national newspapers claiming she was going to give birth later in the year.

The story said she planned to bear a child for two homosexual friends who lived in the United States.

But Janie, 26, said she could not have any more children after being sterilised in a London hospital in 1999 and is "devastated" by the story.

She now plans to take legal action and said she had not been able to face people since the story broke more than a week ago.

The Argus reported two weeks ago how the 26-year-old mother had written a series of children's books about her two-year-old daughter, Vicky, who has cerebral palsy.

She called it Vicky Wicky Woo and it is aimed at able-bodied children to help them understand youngsters who are different.

But just days later, Janie was featured in a string of papers which claimed she would give birth for the couple, who are long-time friends of the family.

The stories claimed no money would change hands over the pregnancy and that Janie, who has two other children of her own, Beth, five, and Michael, six, planned to have the child after being artificially inseminated.

Janie, who gave up a career in dentistry after completing her studies at the University of Brighton to care for her daughter Vicky, said: "I could not bring myself to read the stories but I have heard that it is everywhere and I am absolutely disgusted.

"I did not know anything about it until the Saturday morning when the story had appeared in the papers and they asked if they could interview me about the pregnancy.

"When I said I didn't have a clue what they meant they said, 'Are you sure?' I honestly thought it was a wind up.

"I cannot believe it, I have been sterilised. It happened at the Lister Hospital in London eight months after I had Vicky, so I cannot even have any more kids.

"A paper came to interview me about the book so we posed for pictures, thinking we would be featured talking about the book, and then this happens.

"It is all rubbish. The couple involved are friends of mine from the States, that is all. Even if I wanted to help them I couldn't. And they would not ask me anyway. I met them through a mutual friend about ten years ago and I just stayed in touch with them through letters and then through email.

"I have had three premature babies and all needed specialist care so why would I want to go through that again.

"No-one would consider me as a surrogate. I have told Steve that I want no more children and he has agreed. My friends are devastated by this, so you can imagine how I feel. It has taken me ages to calm down and I spent days not talking to anyone because of this."

Janie, who has not left Brighton since she studied English at university in the city, plans to tour hospitals and health centres across Britain to talk about her book.

Gary Tempest, spokesman for the Department of Health, said: "You can have sterilisation reversed but if this has been written down with the GPs signature at the bottom then she has been sterilised full stop."