Online lovers turn out to be neighbours

A British couple who met on a dating website turned out to be neighbours who had lived only a few houses apart for 17 years, a report said on Wednesday.

Teacher Julie McIlroy began emailing electrician Allan Donnelly after seeing his picture on a dating website, an increasingly common way of meeting people with the rapid rise of broadband internet access.

It was only after several weeks of online contact that the 46-year-old phoned him—and realised they lived seven houses apart on the same street in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

“While we were chatting I said I’d just been to the shop. He said that was the shop he always went to,” she told the South Wales Echo.

“When he told me he lived in [the same street], I thought it was a wind-up.”

“I was stunned ... He asked me over for a cup of tea, and that was that,” she said, while Donnelly (53) added: “We’ve got the perfect compatibility. I’m a very lucky man.”

The couple are now planning to marry.—Sapa-AFP