A couple who lost their legal bid to adopt a Cambodian child said it was like suffering a miscarriage.

Malcolm and Pauline Dixon of High Cross Street, Rotherfield, near Crowborough, were dismayed by yesterday's failure of their High Court challenge against a ban on adoption from the AIDS-stricken country.

Mr Dixon, 43, a freelance information technology consultant, said: "When we were approved to adopt, we were officially pregnant in adoption terms and the news we could not was like a miscarriage.

"We have been through the whole range of emotions in the past 12 months - anger, disbelief and incredulity a different solution could not be found.

"It seems there is no compassion in politics when it comes to Cambodia."

The Dixons and five other couples began their legal battle when Margaret Hodge, then children's minister, suspended all adoptions from the country in June last year.

By that point the Dixons were already two years into the adoption process and had been visited 14 times by a social worker to ensure they were fit to adopt a child.

They had visited Cambodia and toured various orphanages to discover more about the country's culture and how children were treated in the homes.

Mr Dixon said: "You go through hell and do everything by the book, submitting six character statements, being checked against police criminal records - and then they change the rules. That is outrageous."

The Dixons are now faced with the prospect of repeating the process as they try to adopt a child from another country.

Mr Dixon said: "We still want a family and we have been advised to choose another country but my fears are the Government's attitude is hardening against inter-country adoption and it will be putting legislation in place.

"We don't want to be put through this again."

The six couples and their solicitors accused Ms Hodge of acting outside her powers but her position was yesterday upheld by Mr Justice Munby at the High Court in London.

He said that their legal attack "fails on every ground" and the Government action was both "appropriate and proportionate".

The Government took action because of growing corruption and child trafficking and concern children might be adopted without proper consent from their birth parents.

The judge said the abuses of the Cambodian adoption system which had become evident "amply justify the Secretary of State's view action had to be taken."

He said the alternative of making inquiries in every individual case was impractical in the light of the resources which could be devoted to such inquiries.