A former Olympic swimmer who represented Great Britain on home soil in the 2012 Games has been sentenced after being found guilty of several sex-related crimes.
Antony James received 21 years in prison for raping two underage girls, among other sexual offences that occurred over a 10-year span between 2012 and 2022, according to the BBC.
Judge Robert Linford said James, now 35, will have a sexual harm prevention order in place for 25 years and must register as a sex offender for life in addition to his sentence.
A native of Plymouth, England, James was training to be a police officer at the time of his arrest in January 2022.
His sentencing came after he was found guilty of eight charges in October 2024, including three counts of rape, three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, and two charges of causing or inciting a child into sexual activity.
He also was accused of forcing one to victim to have sex with “strange” men.
Linford said James was “highly talented and highly regarded” but had “groomed and repeatedly sexually abused two people.”
Last April, James also pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
James has also been charged with several other offences at the time of his arrest. He was cleared of three charges while the jury failed to return verdicts on six other sex charges, which included five counts of rape, according to the UK Sun.
The outlet reported that James bragged about “threesomes” and told jurors how he “strangled” one girl while claiming: “She made me do it.”
“Antony James manipulated and controlled his teenage victims to fulfil his own sexual desires. He claimed that these young victims were over 16 at the time, but this was a lie which collapsed under scrutiny,” said Gemma Kneebone, a senior crown prosecutor for CPS South West.
“James was well aware of how young these victims were, and he set out to take advantage of this in a truly appalling manner, continuing to offend against them after they turned 16. This prosecution would not have been possible without the evidence so bravely provided by the young women involved, and I would like to thank them for coming forward to support the case.”
During his athletic career, James was a Commonwealth Games silver medallist and competed in the 2012 London Olympics in the individual 100m butterfly, finishing 31st.
He also was British National Senior Champion for 100m butterfly for four years in a row.