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Warning: This story discusses the sexual abuse of a young person and may be distressing for some readers.
Former New Zealand TV star Phillip Schofield has publicly distanced himself from his brother Timothy after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a period of three years, starting when the boy was 13.
Schofield, who has UK and New Zealand citizenship, said he “no longer has a brother” after his younger sibling was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, following a trial at Exeter Crown Court.
Timothy Schofield, 54, told the jury that he watched pornography with the boy, insisting he was over the age of 16 and denying he performed sexual acts on the teenager, the Daily Mail reported.
Despite his denials, a jury found him guilty on all counts and a former Kiwi classmate said she was shocked by the conviction.
Phillip Schofield was mentioned earlier in the trial after jurors heard that his younger brother admitted to him that he watched porn with the teen in September 2021.
After the guilty verdict, Phillip Schofield issued a statement on his brother’s “despicable” crimes.
“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,” Schofield said.
“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.”
Schofield grew up in New Zealand and began his career in TV here before moving back to the UK.
In New Zealand, he had his first TV job as the initial presenter of the youth music programme Shazam! in 1982. He also spent two years working for Radio Hauraki, before moving back to the UK in 1985, where he became the first in-vision continuity presenter for Children’s BBC on weekdays.
A woman who attended Howick Intermediate in East Auckland with Timothy Schofield told the Herald that he was outgoing, with a large group of friends and well-known because Phillip was already a star on NZ television at the time.
She said she was shocked to learn he had been convicted of child sexual abuse.
‘You’ve got to stop, just never do it again’
The court previously heard the young victim felt “emotionally blackmailed” by Timothy Schofield and said he felt “forced” to participate in sexual acts.
“I felt that emotionally there was no escape from what we had to do and I felt that there was a tremendous amount of pressure and expectation for me to fulfil what was being asked and wanted,” he said.
Phillip Schofield provided a written statement detailing how his brother had contacted him in September 2021, and admitted to watching porn with the boy, saying he was 16 at the time, the Daily Mail reported.
Schofield told how his brother said: “You are going to hate me for what I am about to say.”
Schofield said in the statement: “Then he said that he and [the boy] had time together and that last year they had 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.
“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.”
Timothy Schofield has been remanded in custody and faces sentencing at Bristol Crown Court on May 19.
