Phillip Schofield’s brother Timothy set to be sentenced today for teen boy sex abuse

Timothy Schofield, brother of This Morning star Phillip Schofield, is set to be sentenced this morning after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a period of three years.

The 54-year-old was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child, after a trial at Exeter Crown Court concluded last month.

Schofield, who was an IT technician for Avon and Somerset Police, denied performing sexual acts on the teenager and claimed they watched pornography together and had masturbated while sitting apart.

On April 3, Mrs Justice Johannah Cutts told Schofield: “I am not going to sentence you today, I want to know a little more about you, particularly the mental health problems you have spoken about at this trial.”

Schofield is due to be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court at a hearing which starts at 9.30am today. He has been remanded in custody since the verdict on April 3.

Following the verdict being delivered last month, Schofield’s TV star brother issued a statement and branded his sibling’s crimes “despicable”.

In a post shared via his lawyer and on his Instagram Stories, Phillip Schofield wrote: “My overwhelming concern is and has always been for the wellbeing of the victim and his family. I hope that their privacy will now be respected.

“If any crime had ever been confessed to me by my brother, I would have acted immediately to protect the victim and their family.

“These are despicable crimes, and I welcome the guilty verdicts. As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.”

During the trial, Schofield’s victim, who alleged the offending started when he was 13, told the jury he felt “forced” by Schofield to participate in sexual activity.

The victim told the trial the defendant made him watch adult porn and he felt powerless to escape the situations orchestrated by his abuser.

“It very much felt there wasn’t a way out,” he told police.

Schofield tried to normalise the abuse, he said. “It was so overwhelming,” the victim added. “It felt really wrong and something that didn’t feel right.

“It was never something I enjoyed, never something that was good.”

Schofield’s employers Avon and Somerset Police dismissed the 54-year-old following his conviction, after previously suspending him from his job at the force’s headquarters in Portishead.

Avon and Somerset Police say they were first informed via a third party on December 3, 2021, and immediately launched an investigation – with the defendant being arrested later that day.

Within 48 hours, he had been charged with criminal offences and was due to appear in court.

* If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999