Phillip Schofield has released a public statement after his brother was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a three-year period.
The TV presenter – who viewers will know has been absent from his regular gig on ITV‘s breakfast show This Morning over the last couple of weeks – has spoken out after his brother, Timothy Schofield, was charged with 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019 following a trial at Exeter Crown Court.
Timothy Schofield denied the charges against him, but after nearly six hours of deliberating, jurors returned majority verdicts yesterday (Monday 3 April) and found him guilty of all counts.
The 54-year-old was charged with 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.
Philip Schofield has branded his brother’s actions as “despicable crimes”.
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Phillip and his brother Timothy Schofield / Credit: Phillip Schofield (via Instagram)
Breaking his silence, and taking to his Instagram Stories to address the trial and speak out after the verdict, Phillip claimed “I no longer have a brother”.
His statement reads in full: “My overwhelming concern is and has always been for the wellbeing of the victim and his family, and I hope that their privacy will now be respected.
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“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”.
The TV presenter has spoken out after his brother was found guilty of sexual abuse / Credit: ITV & Phillip Schofield (via Instagram)
As mentioned, former civilian police worker, Timothy, denied all charges against him and most-notably denied performing sex acts on the teenager – who who alleged the offending started when he was 13 – however he did tell the jury that he watched porn with the boy and they had masturbated while sitting apart.
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Despite what the teenager was alleging, Timothy insisted the boy was over 16 at the time.
He did, however, admit searching for terms on a legal pornography website including “young boy teen sex” and “gay teen torrents”, telling the court he believed this would return results showing men aged between 18 and their early 20s.
Timothy testified that he told his brother Phillip that he and the complainant had watched pornography together in September 2021, but the TV presenter claimed in a written statement provided to the trial that Timothy “made it sound like a one-off”.
Phillip claims that he had told his brother that “it must never happen again”, Sky News reports.
Timothy Schofield has now been remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing at Bristol Crown Court – which is due to take place on 19 May.
Featured Image – Avon and Somerset Police
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…