An aspiring model who was told she was too short for the catwalk spent has thousands of pounds having her legs surgically lengthened. From the age of 14, Alexandra Transer from the city of Volgograd, in south-western Russia, wanted to be a model.

But being just 5.4ft (165cm) she was nowhere near the 6ft (183cm) needed.

So she decided to work and save up money to have radical surgery to make her legs longer.

'At first my parents were really against it. My mum is only 5.2ft (158cm) and my dad 5.5ft (168cm) so we are a family of shorties. But I had read about something called the Ilizarov apparatus which lengthens bones and that the Soviet high jump champion Valery Brumel had had this done in 1968. So I decided to work and save up money to have the operation done. Seeing that I was so determined, my parents gave in and agreed to support me,' she said.

Turning down a place at university, Ms Transer, who is now 30, went to work as an assistant for her engineer father until she saved up the £6,000 needed.

The surgery involved surgically fracturing her legs and fitting a metal cage known as a ring apparatus to each leg. As she recovered, the fractured bone began to grow together. But while it was growing, Ms Transer had to turn a screw on each cage four times a day, moving the healing fracture apart by approximately one milimeter a day.  

Over time, this meant her leg stretched by 6cm (2.4 inches). 

She said: 'The first operation went really well and in nine months I grew by 6cm. I am now planning two more operations in the next couple of years and by 2018 I will be 6ft. I'll probably be told I'm too old to be a model by then, but I'll dye my hair blonde and at least I will look and feel like one.'