UK TV host Phillip Schofield has publicly condemned his brother Timothy Schofield, who has been convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
“As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother,” the broadcaster released in a statement on Tuesday, which he also posted to his Instagram stories.
He described the crimes as “despicable” and said he welcomes the guilty verdict, which came on Tuesday after a week-long trial.
“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.”
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On Tuesday, Timothy Schofield, 54, was convicted on 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, The BBC reported.
During the trial at Exeter Crown Court, the jury was told that he confessed to his older brother and TV host in 2021 that he watched pornography with the victim, saying it happened when the boy was 16 – the age of consent in the UK.
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Phillip Schofield (right) with This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby.
In a statement read to the court, Schofield described his brother telling him he and the teenaged boy, “had time together and that last year they watched porn … [and masturbated]”.
“I turned and said, ‘What did you just say?’ He said it was last year, and we were alone together. Tim said it was just this once. I told him it should never happen again. He then started to tell me about [the boy’s] body.
@schofe/Instagram
Phillip Schofield release a statement after his borther’s verdict on Tuesday.
“I said, ‘F…, stop’. I shouted at Tim that he had to stop. I didn’t want to know any of the details, but he made it sound like a one-off.
“I said, ‘I don’t want you to tell me any more’. I said, ‘You’ve got to stop, just never do it again. Regardless how that happened, it must never happen again’.”
In court, prosecutors said evidence shows the abuse actually began when the boy was 13, not 16.
In his statement, Schofield wrote: “If any crime had ever been confessed to me by my sibling, I would have acted immediately to protect the victim and their family”.
Schofield began his career in New Zealand hosting the 1980s music show Shazam! and was a Radio Hauraki DJ.
He currently hosts the UK breakfast show This Morning with Holly Willoughby. In 2020, the then 57-year-old came out as gay after 27 years of marriage.
Timothy Schofield will be sentenced on May 19 (local time).
