I went clubbing with Andrew Tate as a teen – I thought he was harmless until...

Malin, a Bedford native, first met Andrew and Tristan Tate at an underage night when she was just 17 years old.

The brothers were raised by their single mother Eileen in a council estate after being born in America and then relocating to Luton.

The former Miss England finalist Malin recalls: "I first met them when I was approximately 17 years old, back when I was competing in pageants. My best friend and I used to frequent places known as "nappy nightclubs." It is intended for those under the age of 18.

The 30-year-old met the infamous siblings on a night out when she was a teenager. The brothers, who were accused of rape, human trafficking, and organising a gang to sexually abuse women, were prosecuted in Romania last month.

“We bumped into them there, Andrew and Tristan. I would speak to Tristan and she would be speaking to Andrew.

“They would constantly be trying to buy us drinks and they were really strange, so very unapproachable.

“They were very cocksure. You could tell they had arrogance although Tristan was very sweet at that time. Tristan was always the sweeter brother when he was younger. I think Andrew had quite a big influence on his brother.

“We used to hang out at these bars because they’d always go and bring a different car, a nice car. I remember a Porsche.”

The brothers are accused, along with two Romanian women, of tricking seven alleged victims with false declarations of love and transporting them to take part in pornography.

Prosecutors say that the women were allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt.

Andrew, 36, is accused of raping one of the alleged victims, while Tristan, 34, is charged with instigating others to violence. Both deny the accusations and are due to stand trial.

Malin, 30, tweeted about the brothers last week, writing: "I knew these guys personally from my teen years. Nasty piece of work."

Andrew gained notoriety for misogynistic remarks and hate speech after appearing on Big Brother in 2016 and before being banned, he had a huge Instagram following of 4.6 million.

But Malin insists: “In school, they were geeks. I don’t think they had many friends so I think they’ve really tried to transform their persona because I think they lacked that when they were younger.

“Andrew was quite skinny. There was just something not right about him.”

And she reveals her and her friend stopped speaking to them after they gave them a lift home one night.

Malin says: “I remember one day they were quite rude to me and my friend and we just got out of the car and went.

“They said something quite nasty, I can't remember what.

“It was something really rude to me and to me and her. It might have been to do with our appearance or something along the lines.

“We just made our own way home in a taxi.”

After that, they stopped speaking to the pair but would often see them out, including at a nightclub after she turned 18.

She says: “We’d always see them out and doing the exact same thing with different women, younger girls going to the bar, trying to impress.

“They would sit there and watch people. I remember once in Oceana in Milton Keynes in one of the rooms they were sat at a table with a bottle of vodka. They would just be staring looking at the next approach.

“They didn't seem to be doing what normal people do at bars, joking around, having fun. It was as if they had an ulterior motive almost, which was odd.”

The domestic abuse campaigner says she can see why girls would have been attracted to them.

She explains: “Any girl that age in that kind of time especially because of the cars and stuff, it’s the typical thing when you’re younger ‘oh look at the nice car, there’s a bottle on the table.’”

Malin says she recently went on Anna Whitehouse's Dirty Mother Pukka podcast and said she was "gobsmacked" by how many woman contacted the show to claim they were victims of physical or emotional abuse at the hands of Tate.

"It made me feel sick," she says. “What has made it worse is that his fans see him as a hero.

"It’s just a very scary world we live in because people are looking up to him. We are trying to undo what he is teaching young guys. It's mental.

“I had two messages not long ago when I put that tweet up. One said, ‘I went to school with him and he was always nasty then.'

“I didn’t open it, I didn’t want to get into it.”

Malin’s ex boyfriend, Tom Kemp - and father of her daughter Consy, who died in 2019 aged four weeks - was jailed in September 2020 for ten months after attacking her. However, he was released after three months.

The motivational speaker, who last year published her book Positivity Is Our Superpower: Everything I've Learned about Trauma, Grief, Confidence and Self-Love, says she knows how alleged victims feel.

Malin, went on to find love with boyfriend Jared but the couple split shortly after she welcomed their daughter Xaya, now 19 months, last January.

She says: “It’s a scary place. I remember when I spoke out about my ex after the court proceedings and all I was worried about was what if he tries to kill me?

“But I had some kind of fight in me that was like no I need to help other women. It scared me a lot. I thought he’d turned up at my house.

“When you use your voice, they don’t like that, they don’t want it. I’ve had a lot of s*** go on in my life. I don't really care anymore.

And she adds of the Tates: “I think there’s a lot of fear that comes with their status.

“I’ve had messages when I put something negative about him. I get, ‘shut up, no, he’s the king, he’s the boss.’ What the hell?

“They’ve done a lot of damage to the younger generation, the conditioning they’ve done to younger boys is mental.