Former Team GB Olympic swimmer lied to police because he felt ‘subjected to a planned attack’ after being accused of raping and sexually assaulting teenage girls, court told

A former British Olympic swimmer on trial for raping and sexually assaulting teenage girls has admitted to police that he lied about having sex with a teenage girl.

Antony James, 34, said he denied everything to police because he panicked and “felt subjected to a planned attack.”

Yesterday at Plymouth Crown Court he admitted lying about having sex with a teenage girl at his home and ‘tying her up with rope’.

He also admitted lying to police about having his hands around a girl’s neck during sex, but denied choking sex partners until they nearly passed out.

James represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics and subsequently became a student police officer for the decade to 2022 covered by the allegations.

Anthony James (who won silver for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games) has admitted lying to police about having sex with a teenage girl

James (now 34, pictured last year) said he denied everything to police because he panicked and ‘felt subjected to a planned attack’

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Lee Bremridge, James also said he had seen a girl having sex with other men in an Airbnb property, but that he had not told the truth to police.

James had bragged about having a threesome with a girl, but told the jury it was ‘imaginary and role-playing’.

But he said his best friend had sex with a girl and when he left the room he went in and had sex with her too.

James, who was also a trainee police officer, said: ‘It was a fantasy. I was bragging to my best friend about having sex with someone. I was an idiot.’

He said he and a girl “choked” each other, saying, “She made me do it, sex was so dirty – 100 percent we strangled each other, but without a doubt I passed out.”

And he said a second girl also liked to have hands around her neck during sex, insisting: ‘It was consensual sex and she enjoyed doing it.’

He also admitted lying to police about sexualized messages found on his devices.

The jury has previously been told that James, now 34, controlled and manipulated his victims to carry out his sexual fantasies.

Plymouth Crown Court heard James controlled and manipulated his victims to carry out his sexual fantasies, but he denies all 20 charges against him

James is accused of raping and sexually assaulting teenage girls under the age of sixteen.

The prosecutor said he knew the ages of his young victims, was sexually attracted to them and pursued his “perverse sexual needs.”

The defendant told the jury that everything that happened was consensual and said the complainants would not have engaged in behavior they did not want.

He denies all 20 charges involving three complainants between 2012 and 2022, and his trial continues.