Transgender suspects will still be able to request to be strip-searched by female officers after the High Court threw out a bid to overturn controversial police guidance.

The charity Sex Matters brought legal action over interim guidance published last year by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the British Transport Police (BTP) allowing cross-sex searches.

Women’s rights campaigners argued the advice put female officers under pressure to search detainees who are biological men but identify as women.

Read more: Transgender suspects CAN ask to be strip-searched by an officer of a different sex, High Court rules