The former British Olympic team swimmer lied to police about feeling “subject to a planned attack” after he was accused of raping and sexually abusing teenage girls, a court has been told

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

Antony James, 34, said he denied everything to police because he panicked and “felt like he was the subject of a planned attack.”

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

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

James represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics and became a student police officer in the decade to 2022 to which the allegations relate.

James (now 34, pictured last year) said he denied everything to police because he panicked and “felt like he was the subject of a planned attack”.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Lee Bremridge, James also said he saw a girl having sex with other men at an Airbnb property – but did not tell police the truth.

James had bragged about having a threesome with a girl but told the jury it was “imagination 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 bragged to my best friend about having sex with someone. I was an idiot.’

He said he and a girl “strangled” each other, saying: “She made me do it, sex was so dirty – 100 percent we strangled each other but didn’t pass out, no question about it.”

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

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

The jury was previously told that James, now 34, controlled and manipulated his victims to live out his sexual fantasies.

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

James is accused of raping and sexually abusing girls under the age of 16.

Prosecutors said he knew the ages of his young victims, was sexually attracted to them and pursued their “perverted sexual needs.”

The defendant told the jury that everything that happened was consensual and that the complainants did not engage in any behavior that they did not want.

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