Team GB swimmer tells court he lied to police amid rape allegations

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

Antony James, 34, said he denied everything to police because he panicked and 'felt subject to a planned attack'.

Yesterday at Plymouth Crown Court he admitted that he had lied about having consensual sex at his home with a teenage girl and 'tying her up with rope'.

He also admitted that he lied to police about having his hands around the neck of a girl during sex, but denied that he strangled sex partners until they nearly passed out. 

James represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics and went on to become a student police officer during the 10 years to 2022 which the allegations refer to.

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

James had boasted he had a threesome with a girl but told the jury this was 'imaginary and role play'.

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

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

He said he and a girl 'strangled each other' saying: 'She made me do it, sex was that dirty - 100 per cent we strangled each other but not to pass out, no question.'

And he said a second girl also liked hands around the neck during sex, insisting: 'It was consensual sex and she liked to do it.'

He also confessed he lied to police about sexualised messages that were found on his devices.

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

James is accused of raping and sexually abusing teenage girls who were under the age of sixteen.

The prosecution said he knew the ages of his young victims and became 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 behaviour they did not want to.

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