Greg Rutherford's agent jailed over £48,000 fraud

Julia Flanagan, defending, told the court that Stone "simply wants to say repeatedly to the court he is very sorry that he did this and he hopes the upset to Mr Rutherford is something he will move on from."

But in a victim impact statement read to the court Mr Rutherford, 30, said: "The thought that someone who had been responsible for a large part of my life and someone I had put my trust in to handle a major source of my income had been dishonest has left me feeling sick."

Stone, of Edgware Road, central London, admitted fraud by abuse of position. 

He submitted character references from two Olympian clients ahead of his sentencing.

Jailing him for 18 months, Judge John Hillen said: "One of your clients was the Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford.

"You and he had a written contract which was that you should keep 20 per cent of the gross income which you generated for him and he the remaining 80 per cent."

The court heard that when Mr Rutherford met Stone to discuss his finances in March 2015 the fraudster told him he had lost tens of thousands of pounds in a "bad investment".

Judge Hillen said: 'You lied to him because what you were doing was to repeatedly betray the trust that he had placed in you by letting your finances get into such a state that you were spending money on gambling that should have been part of your business."

When the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion instructed his accountants to assess how much he had lost the judge said Stone "confessed to him that the money had actually been lost as a result of your gambling addiction".

Mr Rutherford then sacked Stone and pressed charges after repeated attempts to get repayments failed.

Judge Hillen said despite Stone's "plain guilt" he made no comment during two police interviews and later denied charges.

"It's only as a result of this prosecution that friends and family have rallied round to give you the money to repay Mr Rutherford," he said.

"The delay to which your counsel referred is entirely down to you."

Stone has a degree in sport sciences from Loughborough University and has also represented gymnastics champion Louis Smith and two-times gold medallist boxer Nicola Adams. In 2012, just following the London Olympics, he told the JC that “The buzz has been phenomenal.”

Rutherford shot to fame after taking gold in London, and setting a new British record for the long jump. He was unable to repeat the feat at the Rio de Janeiro games last year where he won bronze, but followed that up with an appearance in Strictly Come Dancing, following the footsteps of gymnast Smith.

Following the verdict, members of the Temple Fortune football club, the Maccabi League team Stone played for expressed their shock at the sentence. In an email to members, chairman Nigel Kyte wrote that Stone “remains a valued club member and once he serves his time he will be welcome to rejoin us and resume his footballing career”.

The day before his court appearance, Stone had played for Temple Fortune in a Maccabi League fixture.