British Olympic swimmer faces jail for raping two girls under 16

A British Olympic swimmer who was also a police trainee is facing years in jail after being convicted of a series of rapes on two girls under 16.

Antony James, now 34, admitted to a jury that he lied to police about some of his sexual activities with teenage girls.

He told Plymouth Crown Court that he had had consensual sex at his home with a teenage girl and 'tying her up with rope'.

He also confessed that he had put his hands around the neck of a girl during sex.

James, from Plymouth, Devon, had boasted that he had a 'threesome' with a girl but later said this was 'imaginary and role play'.

But he also told the jury that his best friend had sex with a girl and when the he left the room, James went in and also had sex with her.

And he told the jury during a month long trial that he and a girl 'strangled each other' and added: 'She made me do it, sex was that dirty.'

Prosecutor Lee Bremridge told the court that James knew the ages of his young victims - who were under 16 - and became sexually attracted to them.

Mr Bremridge said James pursued his 'perverse sexual needs'.

The court heard he had groomed his victims and forced them to have sex with strangers. James denied 17 charges and said everything that happened was consensual.

Judge Robert Linford told James he faces a 'substantial sentence of imprisonment'.

The offences took place between 2012 and 2022 and James was a former Devon and Cornwall police student officer. He no longer works for the force. 

He was a Commonwealth Games silver medallist before he went on to compete in the 2012 London Olympics where he was in the individual 100m butterfly and backed up the medley team.

He was also British National Senior Champion for 100m butterfly for four years in a row and represented GB at the European Championships in December.

On Wednesday, a jury convicted him of three rapes, three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and two charges of causing or inciting a child into sexual activity.

The three counts of engaging in sexual activity were against one girl who he later raped when she was 16.

The two charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity was against a girl under 16, and he was also found guilty of raping a girl when she was 16 years old.

The jury cleared him of three other charges and the jury was discharged after they failed to return verdicts on six other sex charges which included five counts of rape.

The prosecution has been given a week to decide whether James will face a re-trial on those counts.

He was granted bail while pre-sentence reports are prepared and will be sentenced later this year.