Mobile cheaters: the sub-text is… you're history

Sheffield lad Alex Village may not have much in common with soccer star Thierry Henry – who was divorced by model Claire Merry because of incriminating texts she found on his phone – but he knows what it's like when the boot's on the other foot.

The 25-year-old finished with his girlfriend of four months when he found texts on her phone that made it obvious she'd been seeing someone else.

He shared his story with The Star as a survey revealed 60 per cent of Sheffielders would examine a partner's mobile if they suspected infidelity, and 70 per cent think text messaging has made lying more common.

Alex, from Ranmoor, became suspicious of his partner when she returned home from a girls' holiday this summer. One night suspicion got the better of him and he looked through her phone.

He said: "It was one of those situations when you just know there's something funny going on. So when her phone was there in front of me it was too tempting not to have a look.

"There was this one initial that kept coming up and there were tons of messages from it – things like, 'It was great to meet you' and 'Thinking of you' and 'Had a great time last night'. I knew immediately what had happened."

The barman, who now works in London, confronted her about the messages and "her face went white". He said: "She couldn't deny it."

Alex agreed with the survey's findings that text messaging makes lying easier – and even admitted to doing it himself sometimes.

He said: "If you're meant to be somewhere but you don't feel like it, it's much easier to drop someone a text rather than call them."

And he added that text flirting was helping relationships start, as well as end.

He said: "We were out in The Cavendish on West Street the other week and my mate got talking to this girl. They swapped numbers and were texting each other by the end of the night! It's transformed dating really – to have such an immediate and discreet way of getting in touch with someone you've only just met."

But he added: "If you're going to use it behind someone's back, you need to be a bit wiser and keep deleting the messages!"

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