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.

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.

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.

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.”

Following the verdict in April, ITV presenter Phillip branded his brother’s crimes “despicable”.

The TV star, who co-presents This Morning, said: “As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.”

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