A schoolgirl of 14 was tearfully reunited with her family yesterday after running off with a man she met online – then insisted she still loves him.

Pretty Claire Haver went missing for seven days after striking up a relationship with mentally disturbed Michael Ellis, 23, on the hit social networking site.

Ellis befriended the timid schoolgirl on Bebo and similar websites. At first he lied to her about how old he was, claiming he was 14.

He did eventually confess his true age but by then Claire had told pals she was “in love” with her new friend, who she affectionately calls Mikey. It is not the first time the pair have run off together.

They vanished for a day in January but after pleas from her mum, Claire returned home and agreed not to see Ellis again.

The Truth about Online Dating
In the U.S. alone, tens of millions of people are trying to find dates or spouses online every day. How accurate are the ads they find? And just how successful is online dating compared with conventional dating? These and other questions have recently stimulated a small explosion of studies by social scientists.
The research is quickly revealing many surprising things about the new world of online dating, and some of the findings could be of great value to the millions who now look to the internet  to find love.