Cash-strapped Britons are resorting to selling their kidneys to pay their mortgages and clear their debts.

The would-be 'donors', who include a nurse and a taxi driver, are charging up to £60,000 plus expenses, an investigation found.

They risk up to three years in jail if caught but say the potentially dangerous operation is their only option for getting back in the black.

William Henderson, a 43-year-old taxi driver from Morecambe in Lancashire, has advertised one of kidneys on the internet and wants £25,000 to help pay his mortgage and credit card bills and buy a new kitchen.

With no British surgeon likely to carry out the operation, he also wants £1,000 to pay his hotel bill abroad, plus his plane ticket and £1,200 to cover lost wages.

He said that he had fallen into debt after his wife left him and the Poles that lodged with him returned home after the factory where they worked …