Andrew Tate served legal papers by rape and physical assault claimants

The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2013 and 2016, when Tate was still residing in the UK.

McCue Jury & Partner announced that a formal letter of claim was delivered to Andrew Tate at his premises in Bucharest, where the controversial influencer is currently under house arrest pending charges of human trafficking in Romania.

According to the law firm, the lawsuit is intended to seek “justice, accountability and compensation for Tate’s victims”, as well as 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”.

The specialist legal practice and consultancy added: “The victims have put Tate on notice that, depending on his response, legal proceedings will be initiated against him at the High Court in London in the coming weeks.”

A claimant in these proceedings said: “After such a long fight for justice, it feels good to finally be taking a positive step forward.

“While this experience has been extremely traumatic for us, we have taken strength in the fact that we have decided to take a stand, and are not alone.

“We hope that bringing this claim will encourage other people to speak out against their abusers, no matter how powerful they are.”

The victims have started a crowdfunding campaign to fund the initial phase of their legal action, so far raising over £18,500 towards their target of £50,000.

Two of the three original women bringing the civil claim were recruited for Andrew Tate’s webcamming business, while the third had a personal relationship with him.

A fourth victim was added after an interview with the BBC in which she claimed that Tate choked her so hard during sex that she lost consciousness, and that when she woke up Tate was continuing to rape her.

Meanwhile, Romania’s anti-organised crime unit say they have ramped up the human trafficking case against influencer Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan and two associates.

The authorities have upgraded their investigation to the more serious crime of “human trafficking in continued form”, while another victim has also been added to the case which started out with six women.

The group were first arrested in December and are being investigated on allegations of rape, human traffickign and forming an organised crime group.

Trafficking of adults carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years under Romanian law.

They have always denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesperson for Tate previously 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.”

Romanian prosecutors are expected to issue an indictment detailing formal charges against the brother and their associates later this month.