Team GB swimmer jailed for raping two teenage girls

The former athlete has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Antony James, 35, who represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympic Games was convicted of multiple counts of child sex offences at Plymouth Crown Court today.

During the trial, James was described as a friendly and often charming man, with his own defence stating he had suffered a 'Shakespearean fall from grace'.

The judge, Robert Linford, told James: “You knew what you were doing was seriously wrong,” and said he had a “nonchalant approach” to the “catalogue of abuse”.

The court was told James had no previous convictions and was from a supportive and loving family. The judge told him: “You were held in high regard by many. The sentence you will serve will be alien to you.”

James was convicted of three counts of rape, three of sexual activity with a child, and two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

A student officer with Devon and Cornwall police at the time of his arrest, James carried out the offences over a 10-year period between 2012 and 2022.

The court heard James was at police headquarters when he was sent indecent images by one victim.

One of James’s victims read out her victim personal statement in court, telling him he was “twisted and strange”. She said: “You used me again and again.”

The survivor said James had robbed her of some of her formative years. She added: “The person I was supposed to be was taken from me – I always wondered what type of girl I would be if you didn’t do this to me.”

She said she had panic attacks and constantly felt in a state of “flight or fight”. The woman said she felt ashamed when she looked at her body. Before the attacks she had been a confident girl; afterwards she felt “vulnerable, weak and trampled”.

She told him: “I can never forgive you for what you did to my family. I hope you are struggling to live with what you have done – but somehow I doubt you will.”

James, from Plymouth, will serve 14 years in prison before he can be released, and will be on the sex offender register for life.