Phillip Schofield has been accused by a revenge porn victim of assisting the perpetrator in receiving a more lenient criminal sentence after providing a positive character reference.
The 61-year-old former television star offered a character reference for his friend Ben Perryman, 30, which the victim alleges helped Perryman avoid a severe prison term.
The victim’s life was drastically disrupted when Perryman posted an explicit image of them on Twitter, which was seen by his 30,000 followers. Perryman later sent a similar explicit image to the victim’s colleagues at work.
The victim, who has chosen to remain anonymous, believes that Schofield’s celebrity status influenced the judge, resulting in Perryman being given a suspended 12-week jail sentence.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the victim expressed their belief that justice was not adequately served when the judge delivered the ruling in 2018.
The victim stated, “I feel like Phillip Schofield deprived me of the justice that should have been served for a horrendous crime committed by someone.”
“I was essentially told that ‘yes, this happened, but it’s not that serious, so this is the sentence he’ll receive’.”
“I had to endure that for a prolonged period, questioning whether I overreacted to this incident.”
“I am angry with him [Schofield] because it appears to be an abuse of power, I suppose.”