to think it matters whether Phillip Schofield met the runner when he was 12 or 15.

[couldanyoneexplain]

I've seen and heard both.
Obviously getting someone a job at 18 or 19 with exploitative intentions is sleazy in the extreme. 15 is underage and deeply concerning, but 12 is deep into paedo territory.

...and yes I am aware that there are about 1000 other threads on the subject.

Both are outrageous and unacceptable

I’m sick of hearing about it and not interested one bit.

i always think these stories come out when there are other things going on that we, the minions need distracting from

Yes, I'm sick of hearing about it. Have people really got nothing better to do?

Agreed.

So why did you open the thread and then comment on it?

Same question to @Starhead69.

You’re both obviously very interested.

Why not post this on one of the fifty threads about this topic?

Not much difference between 12 and 15, both under age.

Not really. He was still under-age in both circumstances.

I think in this situation either age is bad, due to the age of PS.

It's sickening IF he was being groomed from either age. I find the picture of the then child gazing adoringly at PS's friend SS very uncomfortable to look at.

People can read and comment on whatever they like. I'm waiting whilst my car has an MOT so I'm reading every post that is showing in Active Threads. That OK with you?

Under 13 re sexual offences/interest is treated as more of a crime, in law. That boy looked young, another of his age would look like a man, which is why 'pedophile' isn't always correct just because the young person is under the age of consent.
We need to get the sleaze out of large organisations and public life. We need to question why some people are given so much power. I was pleased to see that a company is being charged with failure to protect an employee because they did nothing about the sexual behaviour of the manager and another staff member was raped by him. We need to not let this die down, as Andrew's situation wasn't.

@Readyplayerthr33 to say what I said. Distraction technique.

Either someone is underage or not. 12 and 15 are both underage (as is 10, which seems to be the accepted age they first met).

There is a huge difference between 15 year old teen and 12 year old pre-pubescent boy. One is garden variety nonce and other is outright paedo. Neither are great.

Sick of hearing about it tbh he knows he’s been disgusting but on the other hand look at Cheryl Cole I found that equally as bad tbh with her situation over Liam don’t see her getting any shit but there we go.

Really? In the eyes of the law they are the same. If it were your child I bet you wouldn't be saying 'Oh well, he's only a nonce...'

I haven’t read many of the reports…

Are they
suggesting that he met the boy age 15 (or 12) and then stayed in touch with him
until he got him the job at 18? Or was it the boy that contacted him at 18 to get the job?

This seems more relevant to me tbh, as if he stayed in touch with the boy
from age 15 or 12 to 18 that is not good at all.

If he didn’t, then that is not as bad because anyone could coincidentally come into contact with someone they had met a few years earlier. It’s still not great (due to the age gap) but not as bad as the first scenario.

First scenario

TBH there’s no evidence whatsoever that PS met this man when he was 10, 13, 15, whatever.

But I imagine he meets a lot of you beater in his job and meeting him to then work with him later is not grooming.

I believe it’s stated he did help him get into TV when he was older and the affair didn’t start u til the man was 18-20ish.

But I think we need to stop labelling every age gap relationship as grooming. Not all are - from what I can see this is 2 consenting adults entering into an extramarital relationship fully knowing what they were doing.

As for the other man’s breakdown - how many times does a woman come on MN and say her ex is breaking down due to their split. What does she get told - block and ignore, it’s not your problem. People have a right to dump people they no longer want to be with and it’s not their responsibility of the person they dumped is struggling to cope. They weren’t married with kids - it went how most affairs go.

They are both children and he is a peodophile either way.

Do you have children? How old are they?

Yes she coached him on X Factor when he was just a child!

In what way is PS a pedophile?

I feel we use that word way too much - the man was over the age of consent when they had an affair.

TBH there’s no evidence whatsoever that PS met this man when he was 10, 13, 15, whatever

There's photographic evidence. It's worth looking at the other thread that's running at the moment PS/ homophobia ,the photos of how young the boy was is really shocking.