A British man who quit his job and crossed the Atlantic to marry an American he met in an Internet chat room was paid $1,400 (€1,080) last week by the woman, who pleaded guilty to stealing his life savings.

Ms Debbie Horton pleaded guilty to taking the money from Mr Ian Fowler, a computer technician from London who sold all his possessions and came to Georgia intending to marry her.

Mr Fowler said the cyberspace love affair began nine months ago and ended when Ms Horton asked him to leave the mobile home the two had shared for a week.

"I gave up my job in England to come here and be with her," Mr Fowler said. "I could only assume she had in mind to rip me off." Horton's attorney, however, told a different story.

"My understanding is they met in a chat room and made plans about him coming," lawyer Stephanie Sweet said. "Then she asked him not to come, but he came anyway. She is the victim."

Mr Fowler said he courted Ms Horton for several months through the Internet before asking her, sight unseen, to marry him. What he did not know was that she was already married. He said he had $1,400 in cash when he arrived, and the woman offered to put his money in her bank account for safe keeping.

Not so, said Ms Sweet, who called the case a "he-said, she-said situation".