Timothy Schofield tells court of sexual act with teen

A man accused of sexual activity with a child said the teenager consented to watching pornography while performing sex acts in each other's company.

Timothy Schofield, 54, from Bath, is on trial at Exeter Crown Court.

Asked by his barrister Peter Binder whether he had performed sex acts on the teenager, he said "absolutely not".

Timothy Schofield partially confided in his brother - TV star Phillip Schofield - and told the court: "It was a consensual thing after the age of 16".

Under cross examination by Robin Shellard, the defendant told jurors the teenager was "old enough" to choose to watch pornography with him.

He said the teenager had "never in any way said no at all".

Timothy Schofield admitted searching on legal pornography websites using the term "young boy teen sex", but said he believed it would show him results for young men aged over 18 and in their early 20s.

The defendant, who is a civilian police worker with Avon & Somerset Police, had told his famous brother about some of the alleged offences in September 2021.

He wept in court as he described calling his older brother before driving to Phillip Schofield's home in London that month.

"I remember sitting in a field and making the phone call to him," he said.

Mr Binder asked: "You told him you were on the verge of killing yourself?"

Timothy Schofield replied: "That's correct. I was so alone."

In a statement previously read out to the court Phillip Schofield said he had "shouted at Tim that he had to stop".

The statement from Phillip Schofield said: "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'."

When questioned about his behaviour by police under interview Timothy Schofield told jurors he had replied "no comment" because at the time he was "in such an awful place".

"I just was trying to get my head around what had been said, what I had been accused of," he said.

"I had just been arrested, I was in a police cell."

When asked in court whether he was guilty of the charges, he replied: "I am not guilty of these charges and that's why I have stuck to my guns the whole way through and pleaded not guilty the whole way through.

"There's no way I am going to plead guilty to something I haven't done."

Timothy Schofield denies 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.

His trial continues.

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