The brother of TV presenter Phillip Schofield forced a teenage boy to watch pornography and sexually abused him, a court has heard.
Timothy Schofield is accused of carrying out 11 sexual offences between October 2016 and October 2019 – the most serious charge involving a sex act with the child.
The 54-year-old civilian police worker 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.
The accuser told Exeter Crown Court that he felt “emotionally blackmailed” by Schofield into taking part in sex acts.
The complainant said “emotionally there was no escape from what we had to do” and there was a “tremendous amount of pressure and expectation for me to fulfil what was being asked and wanted”.
“I felt that that was why I was feeling forced to participate.”
Schofield “does not dispute” that he and the complainant watched pornography together and that they would “masturbate” when they did so, but disputes “when it started”, according to Schofield’s lawyer Peter Binder.
The complainant told the court he was around 13 when Schofield’s alleged offending started.
But Mr Binder said: “It is his [Schofield’s] case that you have exaggerated the length of time that this practice went on for, that it only lasted 18 months or so from when you were 16 to roughly 17 and a half and that is right, is it not?”
The complainant replied that the lawyer’s claim was “completely incorrect and false”.
The court previously heard Schofield, from Bath, carried out the alleged attacks while working for Avon and Somerset Police as an IT technician.
His brother Phillip Schofield, 60, did not appear on Tuesday on his ITV show This Morning. The studio said he is taking “pre-planned leave” this week.
Timothy Schofield’s trial continues.
