ANYONE in the Taunton area who has discovered their partner is having an affair or who has been exposed as a love cheat is being offered support by a relationships charity.

Relate counsellors are preparing to help people affected by the recent hack of the Ashley Madison affairs website and subsequent data leak.

Figures show that 86.4% of the people in Taunton named as users of the website – motive ‘Life is short, have an affair’ – were men, roughly in line with the national average, although behind North Petherton, where all of the members were male.

Relate has put together guidance for “people who have been exposed or have discovered that their partner is having an affair” following calls from worried members of the public.

A team of counsellor have pledged to support people via an instant live chat service, phone counselling or face-to-face assistance.

Relate counsellor Denise Knowles said: “The issue of cheating has been put firmly into the spotlight.

“Clearly this is bringing up lots of difficult emotions for those whose details have been released and their partners.

“Even if you haven’t been directly affected, the coverage may have prompted you to start questioning your own relationship.

“We know from research we did last year that that 24% of people report having had an affair.

“Interestingly, a third of people we asked thought a relationship could survive an affair, compared to 94% of counsellors and sex therapists we asked in a separate survey.”

After hacking into the Ashley Madison site, The Impact Team released details of its 30million worldwide users to the Dark Web.

The website’s parent company, Avid Life Media, said it is investigating to “determine the validity of any information posted online” and has put up a reward of £240,000 to anyone helping bring the perpetrators to justice.

A company spokesman said: “We will continue to put forth substantial efforts into removing any information unlawfully released to the public, as well as continuing to operate our business.”

*For guidance on how to handle being caught out by your partner following the leak or if you’ve been the victim of their infidelity, visit relate.org.uk/blog or for an appointment to see a local Relate counsellor call 0300-7729681.