Locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson has been left "devastated" after losing a High Court battle to end his life with a doctor's assistance.

Mr Nicklinson, 58, from Wiltshire, was left paralysed following a stroke while on a business trip to Athens in 2005.

The court heard that he had been told his existence of "pure torture" could continue for another 20 years unless a doctor could help end it.

His wife said they would appeal the decsion, after three judges sitting in London referred to the "terrible predicament" of Mr Nicklinson.

However, they said the law did not breach human rights legislation, and it would be up to parliament to review and make changes as it sees fit.

Any changes, they said, would need "the most carefully structured safeguards which only Parliament can deliver".

After the ruling, Mr Nicklinson said in a statement issued by his solicitors, Bindmans LLP: "I am devastated by the court's decision.

"I am saddened that the law wants to condemn me to a life of increasing indignity and misery."

Another sufferer whose case was also refused, known only as "Martin", said his suffering was being prolonged, after he suffered a massive stroke in August 2008 which left him unable to speak and virtually unable to move.

He wanted to be granted a "dignified suicide".

Lord Justice Toulson, Mr Justice Royce and Mrs Justice Macur, while expressing deep sympathy for their plight, unanimously agreed that it would be wrong for the court to depart from the long-established legal position that "voluntary euthanasia is murder, however understandable the motives may be".