By Emily Caulkett-
A fourth British woman has joined a civil claim for damages against Andrew Tate, alleging she was also a victim of sexual and physical assault by him.
The woman joins three other claimants who said in April that they intended to commence proceedings against the former kickboxer and self-proclaimed misogynist.
The four women in their late 20s and early 30s are pursuing civil proceedings against Tate over alleged offences between 2013 and 2016 while he was still living in the UK. A Crowdjustice campaign to support legal action against Tate has received more than 500 donations totalling almost £15,000.
Tate, 36, a British-US citizen with more than 6.5 million Twitter followers, was placed under house arrest in Romania in April after a court overturned a request by prosecutors for him to be detained. Alongside his brother and two Romanian women, Tate faces charges of rape, people trafficking and organised crime. They have denied all the accusations.
The woman, now 30, was at university in 2014 when she says she met Tate while on a night out in his home town of Luton.
She claims to have faced threatening behaviour from Tate after he ‘strangled’ her until she lost consciousness while they had sex.
It is unclear what evidence she or the other three plan to present to support her case.
“Initially, he was very kind and charming and I ended up going home with him,” the woman said. “While having sex, he began to choke me and choked me so hard that I lost consciousness. I thought I was going to die. When I woke up, he was continuing to rape me. It is difficult to say that because it is so upsetting, but that is what it was.”
She said her decision to come forward was inspired by “reading the stories about other women who were brave enough to speak out about Tate”.
“I am hoping that my story will help other women do the same as it is easier to speak out when you realise that you are not alone,” she said. “Initially, I think I was in denial after it happened … I was young and I think that I probably blamed myself a bit. More recently, and especially following his rise to fame, it became impossible to avoid as he was, and is, everywhere.”
According to the law firm McCue Jury & Partners, the aim of the lawsuit is to seek “justice, accountability and compensation for Tate’s victims”, as well as to encourage “a UK criminal investigation into Tate’s crimes in the hope of his prosecution and conviction in the UK, in addition to the charges he is facing in Romania”.
Tate, 36, a British-US citizen with more than 6.5 million Twitter followers, was placed under house arrest in Romania in April after a court overturned a request by prosecutors for him to be detained. Alongside his brother and two Romanian women, Tate faces charges of rape, people trafficking and organised crime. They have denied all the accusations.
The claims in the civil case relate to personal injury and psychiatric harm as a result of alleged violent sexual and physical assault as well as coercive control.
The former social influencer was combative with the BBC during a recent interview in which he arrogantly told the female interviewer that she was not the authourity because he had let her into his home and given her relevance.
Tate once said on twitter that women who put themselves at risk of rape should accept responsibility.