AN OFFICE worker is trying to sell her egg cells over the internet to pay back thousands of pounds worth of debt.

Alexandra Saunders, 25, from Wooburn Green says the money from selling her eggs to childless couples would help pay back debts from credit cards and store cards.

Miss Saunders, who works at Thomas International in West Street, Marlow, posted her advert on US internet site, futurepundit.com.

The act of selling eggs is illegal in the UK, but is perfectly legal in the US, where couples will pay around £5,000 for the privilege.

The former Beaconsfield School pupil got the idea while reading a copy of Marie Claire magazine in her doctor's surgery.

She said: "It seemed like easy money. I had a lot of debt from living expenses, going on holiday and shopping for clothes. Selling my eggs seemed a much better option than working until I was 40 to pay the debt off.

"I also hated having no social life because I was working so many hours. So I just went on the website and posted my name and details."

The software coordinator was originally in £15,000 worth of debt when she posted the advert in 2005. However, her revelations only surfaced this week in the national media.

She is still in debt but her outstanding amounts have been consolidated into a loan with repayments of £400 a month.

She said her debts started building up after receiving her first credit card at the age of 21. Although she has so far has no response to her advert, any potential buyer would be expected to fly her over to the US for treatment.

Miss Saunders, who works at pubs in High Wycombe for extra cash, even shared her secret with women at the Marlow company, which deals in psychometric profiling.

She said: "The women in my office are aged between 19 and 36. Some of them thought it was like prostitution because I was offering to sell a part of myself.

"But it's not as if you have physical contact with anyone.

"The younger girls weren't so negative but women who had children said they couldn't believe I was considering selling my future babies. "

Miss Saunders, who is engaged, says she does want to be a mother one day.

Her eggs would have to be harvested using a complicated procedure before being implanted in another woman.

She added: "I don't think about it in terms of selling my child to grow in someone else's body."

What do you think? Let us know