Andrew Tate: Woman claims social media influencer raped her and threatened to kill her
A woman who claims social media influencer Andrew Tate raped her is planning to sue him.
She says Tate, notorious for his misogynistic views, later told her he “owned” her and threatened to kill her.
Alice, which is not her real name, aged 30, said: “We were having sex and he put his hands round my throat and strangled me until I lost consciousness. And when I came round he was still having sex with me, still on top of me.
“The next day, all the white had gone completely red in one of my eyes. I looked it up afterwards and it was just lack of oxygen to your brain where your blood vessels start bursting to try and get more oxygen into your brain. That was quite scary.”
Her allegation is that in continuing to have sex with her while she was unconscious, Tate raped her.
The woman, who was 20 at the time, met Tate in a bar in Luton, Bedfordshire, where they both lived.
He was a kickboxer and club doorman at the time and they had a one-night stand, texting each other intermittently in the following weeks.
It was during a second encounter that Tate allegedly left her unconscious while they were having sex at her home.
Alice admits she didn’t complain to Tate or the police at the time.
She told friends, none of whom had experienced anything like it, but she and they dismissed it as “something that happens in sex”.
She explained: “I didn’t view it as anything really bad, until recently when I’m a bit older and more sensible and understand consent and how things work.
“I was worried that maybe I would get blamed. They would say, ‘well you were having sex with him anyway, it’s kind of your own fault’.
“But attitudes have changed and people are more educated around what is considered sexual assault.”
She is expected to soon launch a civil case against Tate, 36, for damages, claiming compensation for her ordeal and to encourage other alleged victims to come forward.
“I just hope that he can be held accountable for what he’s done,” he said.
“And I want to spread the message of education about consent and hope that more women might feel comfortable coming forward with stories of stuff that’s happened to them, not necessarily by him, just in general.”
Alice, not her real name, plans to sue Andrew Tate
In April, three other women who worked as webcam models for Tate’s internet sex business launched a crowdfunding page to raise money for a civil court case.
They claim he raped and abused them and they suffered physical injury and psychological harm that stopped them working and living a normal life for years.
They reported their allegations to Hertfordshire police in 2015.
Tate was arrested three times on suspicion of raping two women and assaulting a third, but the case was abandoned after four years.
The force apologised for delays in the investigation and said officers were prepared to meet the women to discuss any issues.
It said later it was “monitoring developments”.
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Detectives have since been in contact with lawyers for the women, who ideally want the criminal investigation re-opened.
The force was asked for a comment.
Tate, a British-US citizen with nearly seven million Twitter followers, is currently under house arrest in Romania where police are investigating suspected human trafficking, rape and sexual exploitation of women there.
A decision on whether to charge or release him is expected this month.
In a combative BBC interview last week Tate denied he was fuelling a culture of misogyny among the young, claiming he was a force for good and was “acting under the instruction of God to do good things”.
His brother Tristan and two Romanian women face the same allegations.
All the suspects deny the allegations.
Lawyer Matt Jury, who represents all four women making allegations against Tate, said: “They are seeking truth and accountability and want their evidence tested in court.
“His influence and public profile, his regular media appearances continue to cause them distress and it just aggravates the trauma they’ve been through.
“They want to bring this to an end and correct the narrative as to who Andrew Tate is. If he says he’s innocent he has nothing to fear.”
A spokesperson for Andrew Tate said: “We understand there is a lot of interest surrounding Andrew at the moment; however, he vehemently denies these accusations and does not condone violence of any kind towards women.
“All sexual acts that Andrew has partaken in have been consensual and agreed upon before by both parties.
“Andrew strongly encourages women who have experienced assault, in any form, to report it to the relevant authorities. He is saddened that a few women who he has allegedly spent time with nearly a decade ago have decided to try and take advantage of his current situation.
“We will not be commenting any further on anyone’s alleged intention to pursue legal action unless such action is submitted to the authorities.”
A mother from Wrexham has been awarded more than half a million pounds in damages for injuries she suffered during childbirth.
Maternity services make up more negligence claims and payments than any other hospital department – and campaigners say it reflects underfunding and overworked staff.
It took Amy Stead, 37, nearly three years to fall pregnant, but childbirth left her with injuries that will last a lifetime.
During her labour in 2019, she suffered a tear so severe it left her with a permanent stoma. What is worse, it was not spotted soon enough.
“It turned out that I had a hole between my vagina and rectum, but it had been completely missed,” Ms Stead said.
She said her obstetrician was “in such a rush to leave” that she missed the injury.
She added: “Had she taken more time and care over what she was doing… she may have seen it, and they could have put me to sleep and repaired it properly.”
Amy says her injury might have been spotted if the obstetrician wasn’t so rushed
Ms Stead suffered from PTSD and was in pain for a year after her son was born.
“It felt like all the joy had been sucked out of having my first baby,” she said.
She decided to sue her hospital, an incredibly difficult decision as it was where she worked. After a five-year litigation, she has now been awarded £575,000 in damages.
Figures for England for 2022/2023 show maternity services made up 13% of clinical negligence claims, more than any other department.
Last year, the NHS spent £1.1bn on maternity negligence payments. To put this in context, the budget for maternity services in England is £3bn.
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Amy says it made her feel like the joy of having her first baby was overshadowed
Litigation lawyers say damages are often high because of the physical and psychological impact the injuries have.
Ruth Powell, head of clinical negligence at the law firm Hugh James, says litigation is “gruelling” for people, with a “really high bar” to prove a claim.
Many mothers never seek legal advice.
“Middle class, white women who have the confidence and the background to challenge things, it’s much easier for them,” said Ms Powell.
“There’s a massive number of women, perhaps English isn’t their first language… they don’t talk to anybody about it.”
Campaigners are calling for change.
Rachel McGrath says maternity services are dealing with ‘massive underfunding and staffing issues’
Chair of the Birth Trauma Association, Rachael McGrath, was awarded damages after her twins were born.
She blames “massive underfunding and staffing issues” for the high levels of litigation.
“Why is it easier to pay out on maternity litigation than invest from the bottom up?” asked Ms McGrath.
“We are looking at staff, a workforce, who are compassion-fatigued because they are not supported appropriately in their roles and that is leading to trauma and an unsafe system.”
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A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “We’re committed to ensuring all women receive safe and compassionate care from maternity services and we’ve made progress in improving outcomes.
“We are determined to further improve maternity services. That’s why it is prioritised in our Women’s Health Strategy 2024.“
Ms Stead is relieved her litigation is over and hopes sharing her story will help other mums suffering from birth trauma.
“No amount of money can change that or make that better, but it certainly helps,” she said.
“But you shouldn’t have to go through that to have children, it’s not normal.”
People are having to play “pharmacy bingo” – going from shop to shop to find stocks – as medicine shortages are worsening, experts have said.
Health leaders say some patients are even having to “ration” their drugs, with a new poll suggesting shortages are a “daily occurrence” for many of England’s pharmacies.
Treatments for ADHD, diabetes and epilepsy are among those affected this year, according to trade body Community Pharmacy England.
Its survey of more than 6,000 pharmacies and 2,000 staff found shortages are “wreaking havoc” on patients.
Nearly all (97%) of staff said patients were being inconvenienced, while 79% said health was being put at risk.
Some 98% said they were also giving out more “I owe yous” – where they can only fulfil part of the prescription.
Nearly all (99%) pharmacies reported supply problems at least weekly, and 72% said they were having “multiple issues a day”.
Another survey last month, by the Nuffield Trust thinktank, said drug shortages had more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 and that Brexit was likely to “significantly weaken” the UK’s ability to deal with the issues.
Shortages have also been a growing problem in Europe and the US in recent years.
However, the UK leaving EU supply chains is said to have added complications such as custom checks at borders and drug makers facing extra regulation.
Nearly all pharmacies reported problems at least weekly and 72% were having multiple issues a day
The falling value of the pound after Brexit has also made it more expensive for the NHS to buy medicines.
Community Pharmacy England boss Janet Morrison said the supply problems were “beyond critical” and had become an “ongoing battle” for pharmacies.
“Patients with a wide range of clinical and therapeutic needs are being affected on a daily basis and this is going far beyond inconvenience, leading to frustration, anxiety and affecting their health,” she added.
“For some patients, not having access to the medicines they need could lead to very serious consequences, even leaving them needing to visit A&E.”
Ms Morrison said the survey was “yet another stark warning which must not be ignored”.
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William Pett from Healthwatch England called it an “ongoing issue that continues to wreak havoc on patients”.
“Healthwatch England hears about how shortages can lead to rationing and desperate instances of ‘pharmacy bingo’, where patients must travel from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for stock,” he said.
Paul Rees, head of the National Pharmacy Association, urged the government “to sort out the UK’s fragile medicines supply system, so that pharmacies can do their job and patients can get their lifesaving medicines in time”.
The Department of Health and Social Care is yet to comment.
A British girl has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person worldwide to take part in a pioneering new gene therapy trial.
Opal Sandy was born totally deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain.
But the 18-month-old’s hearing is now almost normal – and could improve further – after having the one-time treatment.
Opal was treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and the head of the trial, Professor Manohar Bance, said results were “better than I hoped or expected” and he hopes medics might be able to cure others with this type of deafness.
“We have results from (Opal) which are very spectacular – so close to normal hearing restoration. So we do hope it could be a potential cure,” he said.
Opal (second left) with her parents and sister Nora, who has the same condition. Pic: PA
Auditory neuropathy can be caused by a fault in the OTOF gene, which makes a protein called otoferlin and enables cells in the ear to communicate with the hearing nerve.
Opal, from Oxfordshire, had an infusion of the working gene into her right ear during surgery in September – the treatment developed by biotech firm Regeneron.
Her parents noticed changes in only four weeks and the improvements were especially noticeable 24 weeks later.
Jo and James Sandy, both 33, said they were “gobsmacked” when she responded to sound tests at home without her cochlear implant, the usual way to treat the condition.
Opal had her operation in September. Pic: Cambridge University NHS Trust
“I thought it was a fluke or like a change in light or something that had caught her eye, but I repeated it a few times,” said Mrs Sandy.
They say she now enjoys the sound of slamming her cutlery on the table and playing with toy drums and wooden blocks.
“We were told she had near normal hearing last time,” she added. “I think they got responses at sort of 25 to 30 decibels.
“I think normal hearing is classed at 20 decibels, so she’s not far off. Before, she had no hearing whatsoever.”
Opal’s surgery was very similar to fitting a cochlear implant, according to Prof Bance.
He said the inner ear (cochlea) was opened and the treatment infused using a catheter over 16 minutes.
“We have to make a release hole in another part of the ear to let the treatment out because it has to go all the way through the ear,” he said.
“And then we just repair and close up, so it’s actually a very similar approach to a cochlear implant, except we don’t put the implant in.”
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Experts say it could mark a ‘new era’ in treating deafness. Pic: PA
He said the gene therapy potentially “marks a new era in the treatment for deafness”.
“It was just the fact that we’ve been hearing about this for so long, and there’s been so much work, decades of work… to finally see something that actually worked in humans… It was quite spectacular and a bit awe-inspiring really,” he said.
The treatment was developed especially for children with OTOF mutations, and a second child who has had the same surgery is also seeing positive results.
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The trial has three parts – with three deaf children, including Opal, getting a low dose in just one ear.
Another three children will get a high dose on one side. Then, if safe, a new set of children will get a dose in both ears at the same time.
Up to 18 people from the UK, US and Spain are being recruited and will be followed up for five years.
Results of the study were presented on Wednesday to the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy conference in Baltimore.
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