“I’M ABSOLUTELY sickened,” says one of Tim Stephens’ former girlfriends, who called in the police because she was concerned about his behaviour.

The mum-of-two, who dated him for more than a year, said he made inappropriate comments about young girls.

The woman, who did not want her name to be printed, complained to Dorset Police last April.

“He would say things that were just not normal about young girls,” she told the Daily Echo.

“Like how he didn’t understand how a teacher can be a teacher and not be tempted.

“I thought – you’re a teacher yourself. It was comments about teenage girls and about his own students that I just didn’t think were appropriate.”

Examples included saying a pupil who hadn’t been to lessons for months must have been having too much sex.

“He would just laugh it off and I would say that’s not really right,” the woman added.

“I made police aware back in April, but Stephens was not arrested until July.”

She added: “I just felt absolutely sickened that I’ve been with someone like that.

“He was left on the streets all that time. I know it is only three months but he could have done anything in that time.”

She feels relieved that he has been found out.

She added: “What’s frightening is knowing how close I got, being involved with someone like that.

“And how close he could have got to the kids.”

They got together after meeting through one of his clubs.

She also worried about the way he ran his karate sessions, saying he didn’t take a register or log money coming in.

“I felt it was a very slackly run club,” she said.

“ At every other children’s club I’ve gone to they would take a note of who was in the building. There was none of that.

“Sometimes it was 30 to 40 kids. How can you teach on your own that amount of children and ensure they are safe?

“Because he was world champion – and he always made sure everyone knew about that – people built their trust on his title.”