A Dutch student is under fire from the British tabloid press on Monday after playing a cruel joke on a young English woman he met in Barcelona.

Jesse Mateman and Sophie Stevenson became lovers in the Spanish city in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, and kept in touch by phone and social media, her mother told the Daily Mail.

Sophie then forked out around €350 to meet Mateman in Amsterdam, only to be told via social media when she got here it was a prank.

‘You were pigged, it was all a joke,’ Mateman told the English woman via social media as she waited for him at her hotel. ‘He added two pig images plus a laughing face,’ The Sun reported.

‘Pulling a pig is where a guy tries to pull the fat, ugly girl. I felt sick,’ Sophie told the paper.

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The British press and television companies are now on the hunt for Mateman, who has so far failed to return any requests for comment.

Dutch shockblog GeenStijl, often under fire for its anti-women approach, has also taken up the cause, calling Mateman a ‘pig’ himself, before listing where he comes from and is studying.

‘If Jesse Mateman, 21, from Doetinchem, pays Sophie back for her ticket and apologises, we will remove this topic,’ the website says. ‘Perhaps, or perhaps not. Pig.’