Dutch 'pull a pig' prankster says people are threatening his family: 'I am just being ripped apart'

The Dutchman who allegedly played a cruel "pull a pig" prank on 24-year-old Sophie Stevenson has said his family has been stalked and threatened since she shared her story with British newspapers.

Stevenson told The Sun that after striking up a romance in Barcelona this summer, 21-year-old Jesse Mateman invited her to visit him in Amsterdam.

When she told him that she had arrived, Mateman allegedly messaged her "it was all a joke" and that she was the victim of the prank "pull a pig".

"Pulling a pig is where a guy tries to pull the fat, ugly girl." Stevenson told the newspaper, adding that she had spent £350 (€391) on flights to Amsterdam.

"I felt sick. All my friends and family cannot believe someone could be so cruel. It's one thing to have a joke, but this goes well beyond banter," she said.

Mateman has denied the accusations and hired prominent defence lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz, who said that the Dutchman is "very affected by all the negative attention he has suffered from Stevenson's performance".

The so-called prankster told Metro in the Netherlands that he has never heard of the game "pull a pig".

"I am just being ripped apart," he said. "My parents, sister and I have all been threatened. It is a witch hunt."

He admitted meeting Stevenson in Barcelona but said that his contact with her was "short-lived and not of an amorous nature".

"It has been a volatile sexual contact, as it happens more often between young people of this age on vacation," his lawyer's statement said.

Mateman claims that he never sent Stevenson a text message in which he said that she had been "pigged".

His lawyer said the use of the word "pig", which could only have been sent during the pair's stay in Barcelona, could only "relate to the way in which they had sex, not to her person or appearance".

Mateman is claiming damages from Stevenson for everything he has and will in future suffer "as a result of her actions".