With the conclusion of the match.com rape case, the Police and Crime Commissioner of Derbyshire Police, Alan Charles, the force that pursued and apprehended serial rapist Jason Lawrance in the Match.com rape case, called online dating as 'the darkest alley of all' after Lawrance was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday.Said Mr Charles: 'Personal safety advice used to incorporate avoiding walking alone down dark alleys at night but the Internet can be the darkest alley of all'. Powerful words indeed and a warning that should draw the attention of all decent people to the dangers of meeting people online and taking sensible and safe precautions if you are still happy to use this form of dating to meet potential partners.Mr Charles continued: 'The popularity of any website where personal information is required does raise the question of security and more needs to be done to keep people aware of the dangers.'

Campaigners and police said the match.com rape case should be a wake-up call for dating websites on how they deal with rogue customers, after one victim reported in court that when she rang Match.com to report the rape 'they did not seem to want to know', according to today's Sun newspaper. Behaviour which is quite frankly astounding and totally irresponsible.

There is a however a viable alternative in the form of personal matchmaking where individuals are carefully vetted and personally interviewed by companies such as Matchmakers, who also give you the chance to work one on one with an experienced personal matchmaker to guide you throughout your compete period of membership, and recommend other clients to you.To find out more about the service provided by Matchmakers, ring us on 0800 644 4130 and ask to speak to Ivana Franekova, our Senior Membership Adviser, who would be happy to guide you through all of our membership options or complete our contact form below and we'd be delighted to call you back.