A WOMAN accused of pushing a cross-dressing human rights lawyer under a tube train at King’s Cross is in the process of having a sex change, a court heard.

Nina Kanagasingham, 34, is said to have deliberately shoved 63-year-old David Burgess from a crowded Piccadilly-line platform on October 25.

Mr Burgess - who preferred to be known by the name Sonia - died in front of shocked rush hour commuters.

Kanagasingham, who was charged with murder last week, appeared unshaven at the Old Bailey on Monday for a short bail hearing but did not make a bail application.

Judge Timothy Pontius noted: “The defendant is in the process of undergoing a sex change. Has it been completed?”

Defence barrister David Kitson replied: “No”

The judge added: “How does the defendant wished to be called?”

Mr Kitson replied: “By her female name of Nina.”

Kanagasingham, of Chichele Road, Cricklewood, was remanded in custody.

She will return to court for a plea and case management hearing on February 3, 2011.

Mr Burgess, 63, of Shaftesbury Avenue, central London, was a leading human rights solicitor at Luqmani Thompson and Partners in Wood Green.

But his family, friends and work colleagues knew that he also went by the name of Sonia, and his two adult daughters and adult son have asked that he be referred to as such.