Phillip schofield

Indeed. As far as I know there is little information about what happened between the first meeting and the employment as a runner. A period of several years.

Blondiescot

You can be guilty of grooming someone without it having to involve underage sex.

It would be quite unusual for a perpetrator to wait until four years after a young person has reached the age of consent however.

Oh my goodness..who cares about these tawdry people and that puerile show which means that anyone with half a brain steers clear of ITV every weekday morning! All the 'poor me' stuff and the crocodile tears of those potentials waiting in the wings to take over. Please give it a rest..so many truly meaningful things are happening in our world today!

Doodledog

That is true, and I haven't said otherwise .

Grooming, however, is illegal, and can take place long before a sexual relationship starts. As you say, though, without more proof that can't be tried in court, but the events of the past week confirm the rumours that have been around for years. Time will tell whether more rumours will also turn out to be true.

I didn’t know ‘grooming’ was illegal. How on earth can it be defined?

It is illegal Grandma and there would have to be evidence to support the claim; emails and text messages for example. In the absence of any evidence, PS grooming anyone is at best speculation.

I still think it’s been blown out of all proportion. If a child had been involved it would be a different matter.

Possibly a child was involved - hence the curiosity about the gap between meeting a child and the admission of having sex with him at the age of 20. We don’t know. We may or may not find out. I have no interest in PS and have never watched any programme in which he appeared but I do have an interest in seeing the law upheld. Therefore I will follow what happens, and my nose tells me there will be more more, but the fact that it’s headline news is perhaps indicative of how much some people are interested in so-called celebrities.

Anniebach

No one lies to family and friends if they are having an affair, only Schofield

Actually, most people who are having an affair, lie to family and friends.

I think that was the point Annie was making Molly. He's not the first adulterer to lie and he wont be the last.

Yes Smileless yet we keep hearing and reading ‘he lied’ shock. Horror.

Of course people lie about adultery - that's the nature of it - but as people keep saying, that is not the point.

Sorry, I hadn’t RTWT, I just took the statement as it was written.

FannyCornforth I don’t think that there is anyone on here, right or left wing, who isn’t pulling their hair out for a General Election.

I know, Fanny, but who to vote for? I don't want any of them!! My friend in the US feels the same. The world is incredibly short of good leaders.

There is no evidence that a child was involved as far as we know GSM. I’m also interested in the law being upheld, but we don’t know. It’s up to the police to investigate if they think it’s necessary and I’m happy to leave it at that. It’s got nothing to do with any of us.

Oh Sparklefizz I do agree. Who go vote for 🤷🏼‍♀️ I have no idea who I shall vote for, I’m fed up of them all.

Indeed maddy, we don’t know. It is up to the police to investigate if evidence is forthcoming. That doesn’t stop me, despite being disinterested in PS, being curious about the gap between alleged first meeting and alleged first sexual encounter.

Agreed, GSM, and don't follow celebs, or watch This Morning, but I am also curious as to why so many people are backing away - from fellow celebrities who just don't like PS, to his agent, to ITV, right up to the King.

That doesn't happen because someone has an affair - the King had an affair for years . It doesn't happen because of homophobia - how many media people are gay? Runners are eminently replaceable - Carol McGiven (?) said that one poor lad was sacked to make way for the boy in this case. It goes on and on. There is more to this than we know.

A 20 year old can marry, have children, vote, but can’t make a decision about having sex to further a career without being groomed

We’re on the same page Doodledog.

Anniebach

A 20 year old can marry, have children, vote, but can’t make a decision about having sex to further a career without being groomed

No-one is saying that. But there's a massive difference between a 20-year-old meeting someone at that age and choosing to have sex with them and a 20-year-old who has been groomed since they were below the age of consent (I'm speaking generally here, not necessarily about this particular young man).

Philip Schofield has tarnished his brand and more importantly This Mornings brand and image. He came out in the show OK some viewers probably were upset by this ie how he used his wife. Then pictures of him with his peodophile brother and how he told him he masturbated with an underage boy. Then finally his affair with a much younger man who he first knew when he was 15. Not a good look is it for a day time presenter.

I'm not sure he first met him when he was 15.

Germanshepherdsmum-and Doodledog, I’m on the same page as well. It’s not too crowded and it’s a calm, sensible legally well informed and grounded space.

Claiming the King involved himself in this manhunt is sensible! Enjoy yourselves watching someone battling with the dark night of the soul .

Who? The boy? I really hope he is ok, Annie. He is a normal boy from a normal family, whose sister's ex boyfriend is a good friend of Schofield, so met him long before the meeting with Schofield at the drama school. Not that that proves anything, of course, but he isn't used to media attention, and I really hope he is being looked after.

Nobody said that the King is involved in the manhunt, incidentally. But Schofield has been dropped by the Prince's Trust, which again, is unusual when someone hadn't been charged with anything. I wonder why that happened?