FILE PHOTO: Andrew Tate delivers a press statement outside his house in Voluntari, Ilfov, Romania, August 4, 2023. Inquam Photos/George Calin via REUTERS/ File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) -Andrew Tate, an internet personality and self-described misogynist, faces a trial in Britain next year in four women's civil lawsuits for alleged physical and sexual abuse, after the case was brought forward on Wednesday.
The four claimants, who have been granted anonymity, allege Tate subjected them to physical or sexual violence between 2013 and 2015. Two say they were in an intimate relationship with Tate, while two worked for his online webcam business.
The women's lawyers say in court filings that one woman was threatened with a gun as Tate said "you're going to do as I say or there'll be hell to pay", while another alleges Tate strangled her until she was unconscious during sex.
Tate, 38, denies the allegations and his lawyers say in his written defence that the claims are false and that all sexual activity was consensual.
During a preliminary hearing at London's High Court on Wednesday, the trial was brought forward to June 2026, having previously been due to start in early 2027.
"It's not in anyone's interest that this case goes into the long grass of 2027," judge Christina Lambert said.
The claimants' lawyer Anne Studd said that, in addition to the four women, there would be a further six to eight witnesses.
The four British claimants welcomed the decision.
"We've already spent years waiting for justice, and so it's of some comfort to hear that Andrew Tate will face these allegations in a court earlier than the original plan of 2027," they said.
Tate did not attend Wednesday's brief hearing and was not required to do so. His lawyers previously said he intends to give evidence in his defence at the trial.
Tate and his brother Tristan are under criminal investigation in Romania and face a criminal case in Britain. Their lawyers said last month the pair will return to face those charges once proceedings in Romania conclude.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, writing by Sam Tobin, editing by Ed Osmond)
