Their daughter, referred to as Child A, was stabbed more than 30 times on 29 July by then-17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, in an attack that killed three young girls.

On Thursday the family’s local MP Paul Foster (South Ribble) read a statement from them in a Commons debate on knife crime.

He said Child A’s parents praised tougher knife crime laws but said work to tackle the problem needed to begin with educating children.

They added “counter messaging” aimed at young people was needed to oppose what they were being exposed to online.

The parents criticised Mr Tate’s effect on teenagers and praised Netflix drama Adolescence for exploring the topic of misogynistic radicalisation.

Rudakubana wiped much of his internet search history before the attack and it is not known whether he ever viewed material linked to Mr Tate.

However Cambridge Crown Court this month heard how triple murderer Kyle Clifford viewed Andrew Tate videos before shooting his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt and her sister Hannah with a crossbow and stabbing their mother Carol Hunt.

“The work required is vast and complex,” the statement read to the Commons said.

“Long term reduction in knife crime will only be seen if we go back to the start and raise our children better.”

Alice Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe died during the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop at a studio in the Merseyside town.

Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the murders, along with the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

Child A’s family said: “It is sensible to make it harder to purchase knives [and] to tighten the law carrying knives. These are tangible solutions that provide a quick reassurance and results.

“But, if a young person is looking for a knife, then we are too late, and they are already on the path to causing harm.”

The family said the upcoming public inquiry into the Southport attacks would “serve the purpose” of improving things for parents, caregivers and school-leavers.

Mr Foster told the Commons: “I commend that child’s parents for having the courage to write that, and the concern that they have clearly that this is going to happen again.

“I urge all members of this House to please work together for the victims, for the families, and let’s please deal with this once and for all.”

“Spending $185,000 (£143,000) on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania,” Andrew Tate posted to his 10.8 million followers on X. “Innocent men don’t run. They clear their name in court.”

The BBC understands the brothers will appear in court for a hearing on Monday. They strongly deny the allegations against them.

The brothers, who are dual US-UK citizens, arrived in the US at the end of February after Romanian prosecutors lifted a two-year travel ban.

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Andrew Tate, 38, is a self-proclaimed “misogynist” who claims to have made millions from social media despite being previously banned from platforms for his views.

He and his brother Tristan, 36, are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape.

The brothers are also the subjects of a separate investigation in the UK into allegations of rape and human trafficking.

In the US they face a civil case from a woman who alleges the brothers coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities.

Romanian prosecutors stressed the case against the brothers had not been dropped and that they remain “under judicial control” – meaning they have to regularly report to authorities and are expected to return to Romania.

However, their exit sparked concerns that prosecutors felt political pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US president said he knew nothing about the Tate brothers being released from Romania.

The Tates have a large US following and are popular figures among some elements of the American right.

Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked for his travel restrictions to be relaxed.

Andrew Tate was put under house arrest in Romania in August 2024 when prosecutors launched a second criminal investigation against himself and his brother Tristan, as well as four other suspects. They all deny wrongdoing.

Separately, the brothers are wanted in the UK to face allegations of sexual assault, which they also deny.

The brothers have also been accused of tax evasion in the UK. A British court ruled in December 2024 that police could seize more than £2m ($2.4m) from them for failing to pay tax on £21m in revenue from their online businesses.

Andrew Tate said the ruling was “not justice” and called it a “co-ordinated attack”.

British-American influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan said on Friday they have left the US and are flying back to Romania, where they face human trafficking and other charges.

“Spending $185,000 (£143,000) on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania,” Andrew Tate posted to his 10.8 million followers on X. “Innocent men don’t run. They clear their name in court.”

The BBC understands the brothers will appear in court for a hearing on Monday. They strongly deny the allegations against them.

The brothers, who are dual US-UK citizens, arrived in the US at the end of February after Romanian prosecutors lifted a two-year travel ban.

Andrew Tate, 38, is a self-proclaimed “misogynist” who claims to have made millions from social media despite being previously banned from platforms for his views.

He and his brother Tristan, 36, are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape.

The brothers are also the subjects of a separate investigation in the UK into allegations of rape and human trafficking.

In the US they face a civil case from a woman who alleges the brothers coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities.

Romanian prosecutors stressed the case against the brothers had not been dropped and that they remain “under judicial control” – meaning they have to regularly report to authorities and are expected to return to Romania.

However, their exit sparked concerns that prosecutors felt political pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US president said he knew nothing about the Tate brothers being released from Romania.

The Tates have a large US following and are popular figures among some elements of the American right.

Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked for his travel restrictions to be relaxed.

Andrew Tate was put under house arrest in Romania in August 2024 when prosecutors launched a second criminal investigation against himself and his brother Tristan, as well as four other suspects. They all deny wrongdoing.

Separately, the brothers are wanted in the UK to face allegations of sexual assault, which they also deny.

The brothers have also been accused of tax evasion in the UK. A British court ruled in December 2024 that police could seize more than £2m ($2.4m) from them for failing to pay tax on £21m in revenue from their online businesses.

Andrew Tate said the ruling was “not justice” and called it a “co-ordinated attack”.

Sir Keir Starmer was asked whether the government would step in by the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey.

The influencers, who grew up in Luton, flew to Florida from Romania last week after a travel ban was rescinded.

Sir Keir said he would “tread carefully” but added: “Justice must be done in all cases, including in this case.”

The brothers are now under criminal investigation in three countries. They deny all wrongdoing.

Andrew, 37, and Tristan, 35, were detained last year in Bucharest after Bedfordshire Police said it had obtained an arrest warrant in relation to allegations of rape and trafficking dating back to between 2012 and 2015 .

The pair also face allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering in Romania.

A Romanian court ruled they could be extradited to the UK once the proceedings in that country had been concluded.

The Florida Attorney General, James Uthmeier, said on Tuesday that he had ordered a criminal inquiry into the pair.

He said he had directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution “to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers”.

Andrew Tate told reporters that the US authorities were “trying to find crimes on an innocent man”.

There is also a civil action in the UK brought against him by four women, after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to prosecute in 2019.

Three of the British accusers were the subject of an investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary, which was closed in 2019.

Sir Ed said he was “delighted” the pair were now subject to a criminal investigation in Florida.

In the Commons, he asked the PM whether he would agree “that people who are wanted by British police for such appalling (alleged) crimes should stand trial in our country”.

Sir Keir responded: “This is a live issue, as he’ll appreciate,” but added that “the principle is absolutely clear” in relation to whether the brothers should face justice.

“But I won’t go into the detail as it’s a live case, as he knows,” the prime minister added.

The Romanian government was reportedly pressed to lift travel restrictions on the brothers earlier this month by the Trump administration.

US President Donald Trump has denied any knowledge of the case.

Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors had cleared a request to “modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania”.

Its statement continued: “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure.”

In separate proceedings last December, Devon and Cornwall Police was given permission to seize more than £2m from the siblings.

A magistrate ruled they had failed to pay any tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses.

Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said investigators have issued search warrants and subpoenas as part of a “now-active” inquiry.

In the US, the brothers also face a civil suit from a woman alleging they coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities. They strongly deny all the allegations against them.

A former kickboxer and self-described misogynist who appeared on UK TV show Big Brother, Andrew Tate has millions of followers online.

Andrew, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, face separate charges in the UK of rape and human trafficking. They deny those allegations too.

Uthmeier, a Republican, said in Tuesday’s statement: “Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate.

“Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.”

The Tate brothers’ lawyer Joseph McBride released a statement later Tuesday on the investigation.

“Today, Attorney General James Uthmeier threw ethics law out of the window when he publicly took a side in an ongoing Florida lawsuit where Andrew and Tristan Tate are suing a Florida woman for orchestrating a sophisticated plot to use sex as a weapon to ruin their lives,” the statement read in part.

Mr McBride called the attorney general’s comments “inflammatory” and “biased”.

The Tates were first arrested in Romania in December 2022, with Andrew accused of rape and human trafficking and Tristan suspected of human trafficking. They moved to Romania from the UK several years ago.

They both denied the charges and spent several months under house arrest. A year later, in August 2024, they faced new allegations including sex with a minor and trafficking underage persons, all of which they deny.

The Tates are understood to be required to return to Bucharest at the end of March to satisfy prosecutors’ terms; however, it is too early to say whether they will comply.

Police in the English county of Bedfordshire are still seeking Andrew’s extradition on separate and unrelated allegations of rape and human trafficking, as well as tax evasion.

In the UK, four British women have filed a civil case against Andrew Tate in the country’s High Court, alleging he raped and coercively controlled them, charges they also deny.

Those plaintiffs said it was clear he would not face criminal prosecution in Romania and appealed to UK authorities to take action.

The brothers – who are currently facing charges including human trafficking in Romania – had been under a travel ban for more than two years before it was lifted, allowing them to fly to the US.

Marinescu has asked the special prosecution service, Diicot, to “conduct any investigation necessary to uncover the truth promptly, correctly, and impartially”.

Andrew, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, have strongly denied the allegations against them.

The brothers are dual US-UK citizens, and were first arrested in Romania in 2022, where they are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape.

They spent several months under house arrest in Romania, before prosecutors announced on Thursday that the travel ban had been lifted and the pair’s US passports had been returned to them.

Despite this, investigations into their alleged crimes have not been dropped and they are expected to return to Romania.

In the US they also face a civil case from a woman who alleges the brothers coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities.

The brothers also face separate charges in the UK of rape and human trafficking.

On Friday, four British women who have accused Andrew Tate of rape and coercive control urged the UK government to “immediately request Tate’s extradition from the US to the UK to face justice”.

They said in a joint statement that if it did not, “it won’t just be us it will be failing, but all British victims of alleged sexual violence”.

They added: “We do not doubt the home secretary’s personal commitment to victims of sexual violence, but we need action, not words.”

The brothers’ exit has sparked concerns that Romanian prosecutors felt political pressure from the Trump administration. On Thursday, the US president said he knew nothing about their release.

Romania’s justice minister said the Tate brothers “risk pre-trial detention” if they fail to return to Romania to face continued investigation in the cases against them.

But international human rights lawyer Silvia Tabusca, who has been following the proceedings, does not believe the brothers will return to Romania.

She told the BBC Andrew Tate was “technically correct” when, upon arriving in Florida, he said there was no live indictment against him and his brother, because a second case has not yet been presented to a judge.

In December 2024, the Court of Appeals in Bucharest ruled that an original indictment – the first case – which was issued in June 2023 could not proceed to trial in its current form.

In August, Romanian authorities began a second investigation over new allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.

When both cases have been submitted to the court, they will become live.

“It’s actually a sort of lull in the two cases against them,” Ms Tabusca explained.

“A big question mark hangs over whether they will ever return there to face trial, what the US government would do in such a situation, and what pressure the UK government is putting on the US to extradite them to the UK to face trial on another set of charges there.”

Romania’s justice minister said the Tate brothers “risk pre-trial detention” if they fail to return to Romania to face continued investigation in the cases against them.

“There are legal mechanisms in place to resolve this situation,” Marinescu said, which could be a reference to the extradition treaty between the US and Romania.

Calls for a public explanation of why their travel ban was lifted comes as many Romanians express concern that there appears to be one law for the rich and influential, and another for ordinary citizens.

Questions remain about why they were allowed to travel and what happens next with their legal cases.

Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are dual US-UK citizens who claim to have made millions from their social media empire.

Their online output was controversial even before their legal troubles, with the pair attracting frequent criticism over offensive statements about women.

Police in the UK have linked Andrew Tate to the “quite terrifying” radicalisation of boys and young men in a 2024 report into violence against women and girls.

The brothers were first arrested in Romania in 2022. They are facing separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. Both brothers also deny the charges against them in the UK.

The brothers had been under a travel ban in Romania for more than two years while they were under investigation.

Speculation that they would leave Romania had been mounting ahead of their journey, after the pair went quiet on social media.

They left from a Bucharest airport at around 03:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on a private jet bound for Florida, sources have told the BBC.

Prosecutors said the travel ban had been lifted, and the pair’s US passports had been returned to them, but investigations into their alleged crimes have not been dropped.

The Tates have a large US following and are popular figures on the American right.

Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked for his travel restrictions to be relaxed.

It came after US special envoy Richard Grenell raised the Tate brothers with Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the Munich Security Conference.

Hurezeanu said he had not considered Grenell’s approach as a “form of pressure”. Grenell told the Financial Times his support for the brothers was evident.

The Tates have been a vocal supporters of US President Donald Trump, while his close adviser, Elon Musk, restored Andrew Tate’s account on X after he bought the social media platform in 2022.

Andrew and Tristan Tate have not yet commented on their trip to the US, and neither has the Trump administration.

The cases against the Tate brothers in Romania are now being rewritten by prosecutors, who allowed them to leave the country on the condition that they return – possibly as early as the end of March.

The pair’s request to leave the country was accepted, prosecutors said, but their request for the charges against them to be dropped was rejected.

The brothers face a number of civic and criminal legal cases.

The pair were charged with human trafficking and rape along with two Romanian female suspects in June 2023. They deny the charges.

They face separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. Last year, a Romanian court ruled they could be extradited to the UK after their case in Romania concludes.

Separately, lawyers for four women who claim they were assaulted by the Tates said they were bringing a civil case against him at the High Court in the UK for “damages for injuries they suffered as a result”.

A representative for the Tate brothers said in response that they “unequivocally deny all allegations”.

A separate civil case in the UK, which the brothers are contesting, accuses the brothers and a third individual of being serial tax evaders.

Four women who allege they were sexually abused by Andrew Tate have said they are in “disbelief and feel re-traumatised” by news of him leaving Romania.

In a joint statement, the four said: “It is clear that he will now not face criminal prosecution for his alleged crimes in Romania; he will use it as an opportunity to harass further and intimidate witnesses and his accusers, and he will continue to spread his violent, misogynistic doctrine around the world.”

They also urged British authorities to “finally take action, do something about this terrifying unfolding situation and ensure he faces justice in the UK”.

Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC the Trump administration was “interfering in due process” in Romania and the UK.

Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, left Bucharest on a private jet early on Thursday. Both deny the allegations against them.

Romanian prosecutors stressed the case against them had not been dropped and they would be expected to return, understood to be at the end of next month.

However, their decision has raised concern that they came under pressure from leading figures in the Trump administration, with one leading Romanian politician saying she was outraged.

The brothers are facing separate, unrelated charges in the UK over allegations of rape and human trafficking, which they also deny. A separate, civil case has been opened in the US.

Romanian reports said they were heading to Fort Lauderdale in Florida on a non-stop flight that would take 12 hours, however the Tates’ lawyer in Bucharest denied to the BBC that was their destination.

The Tate brothers were first arrested in Romania in December 2022. The elder of the two, a former kickboxer who appeared on UK TV show Big Brother, was later accused of rape and human trafficking while his brother was suspected of human trafficking.

They both denied those charges and spent several months under house arrest. A year later, in August 2024, they faced new allegations including sex with a minor and trafficking underage persons.

Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist who has attracted millions of followers online, despite being previously banned from social media platforms for expressing his views.

He moved from the UK to Romania several years ago, however police in Bedfordshire are still seeking his extradition on separate and unrelated allegations of rape and human trafficking, as well as tax evasion.

Thursday’s decision by Romanian prosecutors to lift the ban on the Tates leaving the country is believed to have come in the wake of comments from figures in the Trump administration earlier this month.

The Tates have regularly posted messages in support of US President Donald Trump, and Tristan Tate has said his brother’s role in persuading “millions of young men” to back him “cannot be overlooked”.

Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu told Romanian TV that Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, had brought up the issue of the Tate brothers during a conversation at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February.

Hurezeanu said his discussion with Trump’s envoy had only been an informal one and he had not considered Grenell’s approach as a “form of pressure”. Grenell told the Financial Times his support for the brothers was evident from his “publicly available tweets”.

Four British women have also taken out a civil case against Andrew Tate at the UK High Court, alleging that he raped and coercively controlled them. Tate denies their allegations.

They said it was clear he would not face criminal prosecution in Romania and appealed to UK authorities to take action.

“We are in disbelief and feel re-traumatised by the news that the Romanian authorities have given into pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel around Europe and to the US,” the women said in a statement.

Elena Lasconi, who is running for the Romanian presidency in May’s elections, six months after they were controversially cancelled, has called for the immediate resignation of the head of Romania’s organised crime investigations directorate DIICOT, which made the decision to let the brothers leave.

“I am outraged!” she wrote on social media, “as a woman, a human being and a Romanian.” Lasconi said prosecutors should explain publicly whether their decision came as a result of external pressure.

Prosecutors from DIICOT have emphasised that the judicial conditions for the brothers have not changed.

Any violation of those obligations made in bad faith “may lead to the replacement of judicial control with a higher measure of deprivation of liberty”, it said in a sta.tement in Romanian.

The Tates are understood to be required to return to Bucharest at the end of March to satisfy the prosecutors’ terms, however it is too early to say whether they will comply with them.

Romania is both a member of the European Union and a key Nato member state on the Western alliance’s eastern flank.

Senior Trump figures have also had the government in Bucharest in their sights over the court ruling that annulled last December’s presidential election. Romanian intelligence services said far-right candidate Calin Georgescu had been supported by a flurry of TikTok accounts engineered by Russia.

Georgescu was indicted on Wednesday for attempted “incitement to acts against the constitutional order”.

The women said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked Romania to relax travel restrictions against Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, who have dual UK-US nationality.

Lawyer Matthew Jury, who is representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC they were “absolutely bewildered why the Trump administration has decided to interfere in this way”.

Tate, 38, and his brother were arrested in Romania three years ago and face trial on allegations of rape, trafficking minors and money laundering, all of which they deny.

Separately, the brothers are wanted by police in the UK over allegations of rape and human trafficking, which they also deny. Their extradition to the UK will be dealt with once the Romania case finishes.

The Financial Times newspaper first reported that US officials had brought up the case with the Romanian government last week, and it was then followed up by Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell at the weekend.

One source told the paper that a request had been made by the US to return the brothers’ passports to them so they could travel while waiting for the criminal case against them to finish.

The Tate brothers are currently banned from leaving Romania, although are no longer under house arrest.

Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu confirmed to Euronews that Grenell had raised Tate’s case with him, and that Grenell had said he was “interested in the fate of the Tate brothers”. The minister denied this amounted to pressure from Americans.

A spokesperson for Mr Hurezeanu told the Financial Times: “Romanian courts are independent and operate based on the law, there is due process.”

According to the newspaper, Grenell said he had no “substantive conversation” with Hurezeanu, but added: “I support the Tate brothers as evident by my publicly available tweets.”

The Tate brothers have wide support on right-wing social media, and supported Trump during the US election campaign.

Lawyer Mr Jury said: “It’s very clear from members of the Trump administration’s social media posts and public statements that there is a great deal of support for Tate.

“Either they don’t know or they don’t care about the nature of the allegations and how serious they are,” he told BBC Newsnight.

He said the women he represented were “absolutely distraught”.

“To see the most powerful man in the world support their alleged abuser, is incredibly traumatising… it’s gaslighting of a sort.”

And he called the reported US actions a “gross interference in my clients’ right to a fair trial and due process”.

Mr Jury is representing the four women in a civil case against Tate at the High Court in the UK, after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute their case. The Tate brothers deny the claims.

The civil case is separate to the criminal allegations currently being investigated by British police.

In their statement, the four women added: “We hope that the Romanian and the UK authorities will be left alone to do their jobs.”

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick also warned the US not to interfere, saying the Tate brothers “must face our justice system”.

“No obstacles should be placed in the way of UK authorities. The government must make that clear to US counterparts.”

Tate is a self-described misogynist and has previously been banned from social media platforms for expressing those views.

A former kickboxer, he has gained millions of followers online and has lived in Romania for a number of years, having previously been based in the UK.

He has instead been put under judicial control, meaning he can travel through Romania “while adhering to the required legal conditions”, the spokesman added.

Tate, 38, is facing allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering, alongside his brother Tristan. Both have strongly denied the charges.

The spokesman added: “Andrew Tate and his team remain committed to full cooperation and the pursuit of justice.”

Tate was put under house arrest in August when prosecutors launched a second criminal investigation against himself and Tristan Tate, as well as four other suspects, over allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They all deny wrongdoing.

A first, separate case against the brothers was sent back to prosecutors by the Court of Appeals in Bucharest in December for the second time, saying it could not proceed in its current form.

In this case, Andrew and Tristan Tate were accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women.

They deny these allegations too, as well as those of rape and human trafficking that have been made against them in the UK, where police are seeking to extradite the dual UK-US nationals.

A judge in Bucharest has previously said that extradition request will be dealt with after the conclusion of the case in Romania.

The brothers have also been accused of tax evasion in the UK. Last month, a British court ruled that police could seize more than £2m ($2.4m) from them for failing to pay tax on £21m in revenue from their online businesses.

Andrew Tate said the ruling was “not justice” and called it a “co-ordinated attack”.

He is a self-described misogynist and has previously been banned from social media platforms for expressing those views.

A former kickboxer, he has gained millions of followers online and has lived in Romania for a number of years, having previously been based in the UK.

It is the second time the court has returned the case to prosecutors, who now have five days to amend the indictment or drop the charges.

The Tate brothers, aged 38 and 36, are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women. They have strongly denied the charges.

In November, the same court found “irregularities” in the indictment against them, requiring prosecutors to amend their brief.

At the time, the court also removed several pieces of evidence, deeming some statements from alleged victims inadmissible.

The brothers’ successful appeal on Thursday marks another setback for prosecutors.

They have accused the dual UK-US nationals of exploiting women via an adult content business which allegedly operated as a criminal enterprise.Two female Romanian associates were also named in the indictment published in June last year, which identified seven alleged victims.

Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and was previously banned from social media platforms for expressing such views.

The former kickboxer has gained millions of followers online, where he has often mixed political messages with showcasing a flashy lifestyle.

He has been living in Romania for a number of years after previously being based in the UK.

Following the ruling in his favour on Thursday he released a statement saying: “They’ve had years to build their case – years to tear apart my life, target everyone I know, and even subpoena the mother of my child. And yet, they have nothing.”

He added: “This is all a lie, and I will fight to the very end to expose it and prove my innocence.”

His brother Tristan said: “If there isn’t enough evidence to go to trial after all of these years, that means there never was enough evidence.”

Romania’s public prosecutor’s office, known as DIICOT, was yet to comment on the ruling.

In August, it said it had begun a second criminal investigation against the Tate brothers over new allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.

The same month, Andrew Tate was placed under house arrest by a Romanian judge, while his brother was placed under special judicial control.

UK police are also seeking the extradition of the Tate brothers in relation to allegations of rape and human trafficking. The Tate brothers deny those allegations.

They have also been accused of tax evasion in the UK. On Wednesday, a British court ruled that police could seize more than £2m from the Tate brothers for failing to pay tax on £21m in revenue from their online businesses.