The former boyfriend of the British Olympic triple-jumper, Ms Ashia Hansen, was accused of sending the athlete racist hate material and falsely claiming he was the victim of a race attack at a court hearing in Birmingham yesterday.
Mr Chris Cotter, a former long-jumper, appeared at Birmingham Magistrates' Court charged with sending a race hate letter intended to cause "harassment, alarm and distress" in an attempt to pervert the course of justice following a false allegation that he was the victim of a violent race attack.
Mr Cotter, who is white, alleged that he was stabbed in the back and slashed across the forehead by four racists who abused him about his mixed-race relationship with Ms Hansen outside her Birmingham home in March. He lost four pints of blood and needed 17 stitches and after the attack the couple went into hiding, telling the police they were leaving her home because they were afraid of further violence.
However, after a police investigation that classified the attack as racist, Mr Cotter was arrested. In a statement yesterday, Ms Hansen said: "Despite the fact that we are no longer in a close relationship, I am still shocked at this turn of events. I now have to focus all of my energies and thoughts on my preparations for the Olympic Games and would ask that the media allow me my privacy."
At yesterday's hearing, Mr Cotter was charged along with Mr Craig Wynn and Mr Surjit Singh Claire with racially aggravated threatening behaviour relating to the race letter.
And all three were charged with perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to obtain financial gain by deception by attempting to sell the story of the "race attack" to the media.
Mr Wynn and Mr Claire were also charged with causing Mr Cotter grievous bodily harm.
Mr Cotter and Ms Hansen, a world indoor record holder for the triple jump, met when they were training partners and were together for six years.
The alleged racist attack took place outside her home on March 21st. Mr Cotter said that as he got out of his car at about 10.25 p.m., he alleged that a man in a dark coat and black hat made racist comments and then punched him in the back.
He said that several other men then arrived and continued to beat him up and he was stabbed in the back.