It's the story that has sparked a wave of controversy and conversation on social media this week: 24-year-old Sophie Stevenson was left heartbroken after she spent £350 on a 400-mile trip to Amsterdam after meeting 21-year-old Jesse Mateman whilst vacationing in Barcelona.
The bar supervisor claimed that she was stood up when she arrived at the airport, and six hours later, after she had got to the hotel, she received a cruel text message from her supposed beau, informing her that she was the victim of a "pull a pig prank".
The Snapchat message read "you were pigged. It was all a joke", and featured the pig and laughing face emojis. Stevenson, who simply replied, "How could you be so cruel though!" was quickly blocked by Mateman and proceeded to change her flights to head home the following morning.
Understandably,The people of the internet were quick to rush to Sophie Stevenson's defence after her mother, Julie spoke out about her daughter's heartbreak and described her as being "in absolute bits". "It hurts me so much to see her so dejected. It is going to take a lot to build up her confidence. Something should be done to this man to make him stop. You have to wonder if there are others he has tricked or what he will do next time," she told the MailOnline.
"I hope his mother reads this, what a w*nker! Sophie Stevenson, you’re gorgeous and he’s an utter a**hole," one Twitter user wrote, while another echoed the sentiments of everyone when they asserted "This is so horrible & cruel. I think Sophie is lovely, that guy has no decency or class."
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Jesse Mateman has now spoken out about his side of the saga, stating that he is a victim of a so-called "witch hunt". He alleged that not only is the "whole story fully invented", but that he has also been personally traumatised by the media frenzy "I do not know that whole game... I'm just being broken here."
He has even gone so far as to hire a lawyer, Yehudi Moszkowicz, who issued a statement on his behalf on Twitter today.
"Mateman wants to emphasise that the text messages as published in the media do not come from him," the account reads, before issuing a rather bizarre explanation for the "pigged" comment:
"If Mateman used the word 'pig' in a text to Stevenson, which he cannot remember, it could only have been sent during his stay in Spain and can only relate to the way in which they had sex. It has in any case not been related to her person or appearance."
While Moszkowicz confirms that the two had a romantic liaison, he claims that all contact ceased when the two individuals left Barcelona:
Read the statement in its entirety below:
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Sophie Stevenson has yet to respond to Mateman's account of the saga.
