Phillip Schofield releases statement after brother found guilty of sexually abusing teenage boy

Phillip Schofield has said he 'no longer has a brother' after his sibling was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a period of three years.

Timothy Schofield, the brother of This Morning star Mr Schofield, was convicted at Exeter Crown Court after a trial jury spent around five and a half hours deliberating the case.

The 54-year-old was charged with 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019. Schofield denied the charges but was convicted of three counts of causing a child to watch sexual activity, three of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and two of sexual activity with a child.

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Schofield, a civilian police worker from Bath, told the jury he had watched pornography with the boy, who he insisted was aged over 16 at that time, and they had masturbated while sat apart, but denied performing sexual acts on the teenager.

During the trial, jurors heard that Schofield told his elder brother in September 2021 that he and the complainant had watched pornography together. Mr Schofield described in a written statement how his brother had phoned him in an agitated and upset state, and he invited him to drive to his home in London.

The court heard they spent several hours talking, including eating a meal, before he went to do the washing-up. Mr Schofield told the court that his brother said “You are going to hate me for what I am about to say”, with him assuring him there was nothing he could say that would do that.

Mr Schofield said in the statement: “Then he said that he and (the boy) had time together and