The brother of TV presenter Phillip Schofield has been jailed for 12 years for child sex offences.
Timothy Schofield was last month convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child.
Schofield, a civilian police worker from Bath, Somerset, told jurors while giving evidence in his trial at Exeter Crown Court that he had watched pornography with the boy who he insisted was over the age of 16 at the time.
During the trial, jurors heard that Schofield told his older brother, This Morning presenter Phillip, in September 2021 that he and the victim had watched pornography together.
The victim came forward to the police to report the offences in December 2021.
Last month, jurors, by a majority of 10 to two, found the 54-year-old guilty of all counts after more than five-and-a-half hours of deliberations.
Following the verdict, in April, lawyers for Phillip released a statement in which he branded his brother’s crimes “despicable”.
“As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother,” the 61-year-old ITV presenter said.
He also said in the statement that “if any crime had ever been confessed to me by my brother” he “would have acted immediately to protect the victim and their family”.
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In a sentencing hearing at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said Schofield had “exploited his (the victim’s) innocence… for your own sexual gratification”.
“It was wrong on every level for you to behave as you did.
“He felt forced to do what you wanted, trapped and unable to escape. He felt he couldn’t tell anyone and did not do so for many years.
“You took away his ability to be the teenager he should have been – carefree, relaxed, happy.”
In a victim statement, read out to the court, Schofield’s victim said he felt “numb to life” following the abuse.
“I often felt panic, stress and fear,” he said in the statement.
“I felt like I was trapped in a loop of fear and anxiety of the abuse happening again.”
He said it was only after Schofield’s arrest that he “felt safe” and “felt free to be happy”.
Judge Cutts commended the courage of the boy for reporting the abuse.
She also criticised Schofield’s response of “self-pity”.
“I have not heard a single word of remorse from you, only self-pity,” she told him.
Schofield, who had worked for Avon and Somerset Police as an IT worker, was suspended following his arrest and dismissed from the force following his conviction.
Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Keith Smith, said Schofield’s offences were not connected to his employment and that there were no prior complaints or allegations made about this defendant.
“His former colleagues have been horrified by the offences he’s now been convicted of,” he said in a statement following the sentencing.