For decades Brian McLain felt he was "living a lie" as a woman trapped in a man's body.

Now the former company accountant has finally realised her dream of becoming a woman.

Known as Rikki, she lives in a picturesque, quintessentially English Rutland village, happy with who she is and the life she is living.

Rikki said: "I'm on the right route now. I have no regrets whatsoever and I am thoroughly enjoying life."

Rikki said she had known from the age of eight that she wanted to be a woman.

But it was not until she was at grammar school and read a newspaper article about the first sex change operation, that she realised gender realignment was possible.

She said: "It was like a flash bulb had gone off in my head, thinking it could be done.

"It was bloody difficult hiding my true self from family, friends and work colleagues."

Belfast-born Rikki was married for 35 years to Joan who died four-and-a-half years ago from cancer.

Joan's death was to trigger a journey which culminated in a £10,000 sex-change operation last year to turn Brian into Rikki.

Rikki said her one regret was that she had hurt Joan during their marriage.

She said: "I was always leading a double life. It created difficulties of my own making.

"My only regret in my marriage is that I hurt Joan through that aspect of my life.

"She discovered I was cross dressing about half way through our marriage. She was a lovely girl. We had no family although Joan suffered two miscarriages."

Aviation enthusiast Rikki moved to Rutland four years ago, specifying to estate agents that her house should be within five miles of RAF Cottesmore.

She herself owns a Lockheed Starfighter – a supersonic single-engined, Cold War interceptor jet.

It is kept with a collection of cockpits from other aircraft of the same era including a Canberra Buccaneer, Sea Vixen and Hunter in a private collection at an airfield in Northamptonshire.

Rikki joked: "Someone pointed out to me that aviation is the most macho of hobbies. It's a case of 'big toys for big girls'.

"I've had no aggro in the aircraft preservation field although one or two have asked if I'll no longer be getting my hands dirty to protect my nails."

Rikki had the three-hour operation at the Nuffield Hospital in Leicester in August 2009.

She said: "Before you can have it you have to have been living full-time as a woman for 12 months.

"You have to be prepared to suffer a lot, it can be painful psychologically when you know you're living a lie.

"The thought of the operation didn't scare me in the slightest, it was just the thought of the anaesthetic."

"I was determined nothing would come between me and my goal, you need that attitude.

"It is a major step and you're breaking one of the major taboos in civilisation.Part of me wishes I had done this 30 years ago, but I didn't begrudge a day of my marriage.

"Genetically I will always be male. "You can get a gender recognition certificate which enables you to get your birth certificate changed.

"It's been an amazing journey, painful, but the destination is wonderful."