Lisa Young

BBC News, South West

A former Olympic swimmer has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexual offences, including the rape of two teenage girls who were under 18.

Antony James, 35, of Fort Terrace, Plymouth was also found guilty in October of sexually touching one of the girls and getting the other to send him sexually explicit pictures when both girls were under the age of 16.

Plymouth Crown Court heard the offences took place between 2012 and 2022.

James represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London and was training to be a police officer with Devon and Cornwall Police at the time of his arrest in January 2022.

The court heard James raped the girls in the kitchen of their home and in a car.

Reading out her victim impact statement in court, one of the young women said: “I feel as if my formative teenage years… have been stripped from me.

“I always wonder what kind of girl I would have been if I hadn’t have met you.”

Judge Robert Linford ruled two-thirds of James’ sentence was to be served in custody before being released on licence.

He said a sexual harm prevention order would be made for a period of 25 years and James would be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

James was found guilty of eight charges in October, including three counts of rape, three counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

In April, he also admitted to six counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

The judge said the six counts of indecent images “simply add to the story of abuse”, adding: “Your rather nonchalant approach to this catalogue of abuse was that it was all consensual.”

Addressing James about his first victim, the judge said: “You knew what you were doing was seriously wrong but your desire for that young person overtook your self-control.

“She believed that you two were in a relationship.

“It seems that indeed what had been manufactured was a relationship, but then you betrayed that by raping her in her own home.”

Senior Crown prosecutor Gemma Kneebone said: “James was well aware of how young these victims were.

“He set out to take advantage of this in a truly appalling manner, continuing to offend against them after they turned 16.”

Ms Kneebone said the prosecution would not have been possible without the evidence “so bravely provided by the young women involved”.

James competed in the 100m butterfly for Great Britain at London 2012 and won a silver medal for his country at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.