Warren Brewer and Beth Warren

"I am still heartbroken from losing my husband. All I am asking for is more time," Beth, a physiotherapist, told the Birmingham Mail.

"At the moment I don’t feel emotionally ready to start the family we had planned, emotionally ready to go through the invasive process of IVF," she said.

"I know that posthumous conception is an enormous decision and I need more time to work out whether this is the right decision for me and the potential children."

"We thought we'd done everything that we possibly could," she added.

A lawyer for HFEA said that Warren's husband, a ski instructor, had not given his consent for his sperm to be preserved beyond April 2015. But her lawyer argued that the fertility regulator was taking an "excessively linguistic and technical approach" to the case.

"I think the judge understood that my husband had signed every form he had to. It's all about whether she can find a lawful way to allow it," Warren had earlier said.

Widow wins High Court battle to preserve late husband's sperm