British Olympic Swimmer Antony James Convicted of Rape
British Olympic swimmer Antony James was discovered responsible of rape and sexual exercise with minors by a jury in England this week.
The 34-year-old has been on trial for 4 weeks on 18 counts of alleged abuse, occurring with three females from 2012-22. The case within the Plymouth Crown Court docket went to the jury final Friday, and so they returned a verdict on Tuesday.
James was discovered responsible on three counts of sexual exercise with a baby and one depend of rape of the identical particular person over the age of 16. He was additionally discovered responsible of two counts of “inflicting or inciting a baby to have interaction in sexual exercise” with one other particular person and two counts of rape with a 3rd victory – a complete of eight counts in all. Decide Robert Linford stated in courtroom that he expects a “substantial jail sentence” for James.
The prosecution portrayed James as a “serial liar and manipulator” who gained the belief of younger women to take advantage of them, both by bodily touching them or by coercing to ship him sexually specific photos.
The jury discovered James not responsible on two counts of controlling or coercive habits and two counts of inflicting a baby to look at a sexual act. It was unable to agree a verdict on six counts, together with 5 counts of rape. The Crown Prosecution Service has been granted seven days to discover the potential for retrial on the excellent counts.
The judged granted James conditional bail till a sentencing listening to.
James was charged in Sept. 2023. The sprinter represented Nice Britain within the males’s 100 butterfly on the 2012 Olympics in London. He swam on the 2010 Commonwealth Video games, the place he gained silver within the 100 fly and 400 medley relay bronze for England. He additionally took half within the 2011 World Championships and a number of other editions of the European Championships. His profession continued by way of an unsuccessful bid at British Olympic Trials in 2016 to succeed in the Rio Video games.
James was employed a scholar police officer with the Devon and Cornwall police, from which he was dismissed when he was arrested in Jan. 2022.