Between October 2016 and October 2019, Timothy Schofield was accused of eleven sexual offenses against a minor.
Over three years, the sibling of This Morning host Phillip Schofield was found guilty of sexually abusing a teen boy.
Between October 2016 and October 2019, Timothy Schofield was accused of eleven sexual offenses against a minor.
After more than five and a half hours of deliberation, the jury at Exeter Crown Court returned majority verdicts on Monday, finding the 54-year-old guilty on all counts.
Following the verdicts, Phillip Schofield described his brother’s actions as “despicable” and declared. “As far as I’m concerned, I no longer have a brother.”
“My primary concern has always been for the welfare of the victim and his family,” said the television star.
“I am now hopeful that their privacy will be respected”.
Had my brother ever confessed a crime to me. I would have taken immediate action to safeguard the victim and their family.
These are heinous offenses, so I applaud the guilty verdicts.
Timothy Schofield denied performing sexual acts on the adolescent, but he admitted to the jury that he and the boy had viewed porn together and masturbated while sitting apart.
He claimed the boy was older than 16 at the time, but he acknowledged searching for terms such as “young boy teen sex” and “gay teen torrents” on a legal pornography website.
He told the court he believed this would yield results containing males between the ages of 18 and early 20s.
The Bath civilian police officer testified that in September 2021 he informed his brother Phillip that he and the complainant had viewed pornographic material together.
The television personality submitted a written statement to the court stating that Timothy “made it sound like an isolated incident” and that he told him “it must never happen again.”
Phillip Schofield said his brother had called him in a panic and asked him to drive to his London home.
The court heard that they conversed for several hours, including over a meal, before he went to do the dishes.
According to him, his brother told him, “You’re going to hate me for what I’m about to say,” but the presenter assured him that there was nothing he could say that would cause such a reaction.
Phillip Schofield stated in the statement, “Then he stated that he and [the boy] had spent time together and that they had viewed porn… and masturbated the previous year.”
“I turned and asked, ‘What just did you say?’ He stated that we were alone together a year ago. Tim stated that it was only once. I advised him that it should never occur again. He then began to describe [the boy’s] body.
“I said: ‘F***, stop.’ I yelled at Tim to halt what he was doing. And I had no interest in the specifics, but he made it sound like an isolated incident.
“I said, “I don’t want to hear from you.” “Stop and never do it again,” I said. Regardless of how it occurred, it must never occur again'”
The boy told the jury Schofield “emotionally blackmailed” and “forced” him to engage in sexual behaviour when he was 13.
He stated, “I felt there was no emotional escape from what we had to do, and I was under a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation to accomplish what was being asked and desired.”
Timothy Schofield denied all charges against him, including three counts of exposing a child to sexual activity, three counts of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of sexual activity with a child.
Mrs. Justice Cutts remanded him in custody until his sentencing on May 19 at Bristol Crown Court.
