Blog

The brother of television presenter Phillip Schofield has been found guilty of sexually abusing a child.

Timothy Schofield, 54, from Bath, denied 11 sexual offenses involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019.

Schofield, who was a civilian worker with Avon and Somerset Police at the time of the offences, was found guilty on all counts.

Phillip Schofield said after the verdict: “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a brother anymore.”

The Exeter Crown Court jury found him guilty with a majority of 10 to 2 after more than five and a half hours of deliberation.

In a statement issued by his lawyer, Phillip Schofield said his brother had committed a “despicable” crime.

“My greatest concern is and always has been the well-being of the victim and her family. I hope her privacy is now respected.”

During the trial, Timothy Schofield denied performing sexual acts on the boy, but admitted that he had watched pornography with the teenager and that they had masturbated while sitting apart.

The jury previously heard how he had confessed to his TV star brother in September 2021 about viewing pornography with the teenager on one occasion, claiming it had happened after the boy turned 16, the age of consent.

Phillip Schofield described in a written statement read in court how his brother had telephoned him in an agitated and upset state, and Mr Schofield had invited him to drive to his home in London.

She recounted how her brother said, “You’re going to hate me for what I’m about to say,” and he assured her there was nothing he could say that would do that.

Schofield said in the statement: “He later said that he and (the boy) spent time together and that in the past year they had viewed pornography … and (masturbated).”

“I turned around and said, ‘What did you just say?’ He said it was last year and we were alone. Tim said it was just this one time. I told him it should never happen again. Then he started talking to me about the body.

“I said, ‘F***, stop.’ I yelled at Tim that he had to stop. I didn’t want to know any of the details, but he made it sound like something unique.”

“I said, ‘I don’t want you to tell me anything else.’ I said, ‘You have to stop, just never do it again. Regardless of how it happened, it must never happen again.'”

The This Morning host’s statement issued after Monday’s guilty verdict read: “If my brother had ever confessed to any crime to me, he would have acted immediately to protect the victim and his family,” adding that he was grateful for the verdicts of culpability.

Robin Shellard, the prosecutor, told the court that the boy’s evidence showed that the abuse actually began when he was 13 years old.

Timothy Schofield has been remanded and will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on May 19.

His employer, Avon & Somerset Police, said it would now bring misconduct proceedings against him.

Schofield was suspended from his duties in December 2021 when the criminal proceedings began.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Keith Smith said: “(Schofield) has exploited and abused the victim by carrying out a series of disgusting crimes over a significant period of time.”

“Although the defendant does not work for the public and the crimes are not related to his employment, we know that the fact that he works for the police will be a matter of public interest,” he added.

Schofield was convicted of three counts of causing a child to watch sexual activity, three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of sexual activity with a child.

The victim told the jury that he felt “emotionally blackmailed” by Timothy Schofield and “forced” to engage in sexual activity.

He said: “I felt like emotionally there was no escape from what we had to do and I felt there was a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation to deliver what was asked and wanted.”

An NSPCC spokesman said Schofield’s actions were “deeply damaging”.

They added: “Child sexual abuse can have a devastating and lasting impact on a person’s life. We hope the young man who was attacked is getting all the support he needs to move on with his life.”