Tell Him to Marry Me

Internet blackmail at its finest?

Update Monday 9.15AM GMT . A reader from Australia tells us this home page was defaced in the wee hours of the morning UK time. The site is now dead. Well done, we don't think.

Some home pages are destined for greatness. This example, from Birmingham, England, Tell Him to Marry Me was published for the first time on Valentine's Day, and the link emailed to a couple of dozen people. The story was picked up by FHM.com, where lads hang out, on Friday and is fast heading for cult status.

On the site the author, Sarah Jay, writes:

"This is Stephen, and he is the man I want to Marry.

The problem is he doesn't quite agree, so I've put his picture on the net and am asking you to help persuade him to say YES, and until he does this picture is here to stay.

I Love him, I want him. Please help me out."

You guessed it, Stephen is stark bollock-naked (or was at first. A fig leaf now draws a fig over his not-so-private parts.)

Is this Internet blackmail at its finest, or the best proxy Valentine's card you'll ever read?

Intrigued, we interviewed Sarah for some more background details (no promotion of stalker sites here). We can tell you that she (23) lives in Birmingham, while Steve McPherson(24) lives in London. They are both civil servants.

This is what she told us, by email.

"We've been seeing each other on and off for 7 years, and i've been hinting at taking it a bit further. I just thought this up for a original laugh on valentines day that may get him thinking. I only sent the link to a small circle of friends, yesterday (Friday) morning.

"Knowing that he only checks his emails at the weekend, i thought i'd let him on to it tonight when i see him. So i can't tell you his reaction. But he's got a sense of humour so shouldn't re-act too bad and it lets him know i'm serious."

Good luck; let us know how you get on.

BTW, there's a link to Steve's email address on Sarah's site, if you want to help her out. ®