For years, she refused to confront the truth. Thousands of Cumbrians knew India Willoughby in her former life as Jonathan, the fun-loving TV journalist who reported on the big news stories in Carlisle and the Border region.

There were no clues to the inner struggle that was consuming her thoughts.

As a young man, Jonathan had lived a typically male life, playing football, going out with his mates in Carlisle, dating girls, and eventually marrying in his mid twenties and becoming a proud father.

But in 2010, after years of inner conflict, he finally accepted what he had always known: that he was a woman trapped in a male body.

Thus began a remarkable emotional journey.

Over five challenging years, India began closing down the part of her life that had been Jonathan Willoughby. From Monday to Friday, as she lived and worked in Newcastle, Jonathan was packed away, a memory of India’s old life.

Finally, this month, she took the final step in her journey by undergoing gender reassignment surgery, carried out at an NHS clinic in Brighton.

In a moving personal account, India has described how in her mind she staged Jonathan’s funeral.

Recalling her past life, India, 50, said: “I was ignoring what I knew deep down – that I didn’t belong in that body.”

When a public relations job came up in Newcastle, said India, it gave her the perfect opportunity to be herself, and so she went to the interview as the woman she wanted to be.

She got the job.

For the next five years, she juggled two parallel lives, returning to Carlisle at weekends as Jonathan to see her son and friends, but going back to Newcastle to resume life as India.

She described the moment in February 2010 when she finally accepted that she could no longer live a lie.

“I was interviewing a politician and caught sight of my reflection,” she said.

“I had slicked back hair, a sharp suit, and looked confident. Yet I stared at myself in disgust. This has got to stop, I thought. I need to be true to myself.”

Determined to change her life, whatever the consequences, she resigned from her job at ITV Border.

She changed her name by deed poll.

“I was called for a job interview and knew this was my chance,” said India.

“I wore a smart skirt-suit and a little make-up, and the interview went well.

“They offered me the job, and my double life began.

“During the week, I lived as India in Newcastle and every weekend I’d go back to Carlisle, wearing jeans and a football shirt to see my boy.”

India described the moment in July when she summoned up the courage to break the news to her son – and her joy as he accepted her.

India, whose marriage ended when her son was three, added: “My life finally feels whole. I hope one day that I’ll read the news again too.”

Anybody who believes they have gender dysphoria – the word used to describe being born with the wrong gender – should be referred to a Gender Identity Clinic for support, treatment and assessment.