Imagine that...a famous celebrity being apologized to by the establishment after being caught red handed.
I bet you think Michael Jackson just liked being around children, right?
“The rock star Pete Townshend was yesterday cautioned by police and placed on the sex offenders register for five years following his admission that he accessed child pornography on the internet.
He was arrested in January as part of Operation Ore, the largest investigation into child pornography in the UK. He admitted using his credit card to access images but claimed they were for “research” for a book.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/may/08/arts.ukcrime
Did Scotland Yard apologize for making the celebrity confess to the crime?
It is amazing to me that we’re having this conversation. What hold does pop culture have on your minds?
He was indeed working with an anti child porn group at the time. He was trying to prove that the British Banking Association was willing to process payments to child porn sites. He said in advance that he was going to put his card in the site, to prove it. He did so, but did not access a single picture, nor were any found on his computer. He was expecting to be let off completely, but when the day of the hearing came he was given a choice to either accept the “caution” or go to an open trial. The article you cite is wrong in saying that he accessed images.