Diane Pretty says the law has stripped her of all her rights after losing her fight for the right-to-die. Mrs Pretty spoke with the help of a machine to give her reaction to the European Court of Human Rights' decision not to allow her husband help her commit suicide.

The 43-year-old from Bedfordshire is paralysed from the neck down and has only weeks to live.

As a news conference got under way Mrs Pretty turned to her husband Brian and mouthed: "I love you," to him, and he silently mouthed: "I love you too." She said: "The law has taken all my rights away." Asked how she was coping with the news, her husband Brian said: "She is disappointed but she's coping fairly well. It's probably later on when she sits down for a time to think about it she will probably be very upset."

Asked for his feelings on the judgment, Mr Pretty said: "I'm pleased in one respect because it means I will have my wife with me for a little bit longer. But I am very saddened because the one thing she wants to have is the chance to die at the time of her choosing.

"That has been denied to her and that is not right. We should all have the choice of what we want to do with our lives, even if it's that." He also announced the launch of a website, justice4diane.org.uk to get public backing for a change in the law. People are being asked to sign an online petition calling for a change in the law to allow terminally ill patients to receive medi cal assistance to die with dignity at a time of their choosing.