Twitter Hunt For Bournemouth-Manchester Train 'love Rat Ben'

Image copyright Emily Shepherd

A student has caused a nationwide hunt for a "love rat" after overhearing a conversation on a train.

Bournemouth University student Emily Shepherd tweeted: "If anyone has a boyfriend called Ben .... he's just told his friends he's cheating on you."

The post has been retweeted more than 26,000 times after she sent it from the Bournemouth to Manchester train on Friday.

Ms Shepherd said the response had been "crazy".

The 23-year-old, who was on board the train which left Bournemouth at about 17:00 GMT on Friday, said "It was a fairly empty carriage and there was a group of boys talking and drinking and swearing as lads do, and they were going through girls' Facebook profiles."

She said she had publicly outed the individual after he apparently admitted to cheating on his girlfriend.

"It's been crazy - I've received so many comments from people supporting me and you get the usual trolls trying to bring you down," she added.

"I've had a few people sending me pictures saying 'does he look like this?', 'what does he look like?' but there's no sign yet."

Among those retweeting the original post was Deborah Meaden from BBC Two show Dragons' Den.

However, some people criticised Ms Shepherd's decision to post the tweet.

But other people rallied to support Ms Shepherd and congratulated her for the post.