Posted on 01/11/2003 9:10:44 AM PST by marshmallow
Rock legend Pete Townshend has admitted paying to view a child pornography site on the internet but said he did so "just to see what was there".
The star's admission comes after a UK newspaper report said a British musician was among those identified by a US police investigation for downloading child pornography from the internet.
The Who guitarist, speaking from his home in Richmond, London, strongly denied being a paedophile and said police were aware he had studied child pornography but only for research.
A report in Saturday's Daily Mail said details of an internationally-famous musician had been passed to police investigating an American pay-per-view porn ring.
Campaign
In a statement Mr Townshend emphasised his "anger and vengeance towards the mentally ill people who find paedophilic pornography attractive".
The 57-year-old, who is married with children, said: "I am not a paedophile. I think paedophilia is appalling."
"To fight against paedophilia, you have to know what's out there," he said.
The guitarist believes he may have been abused himself as a child
"I have been involved in a campaign against paedophilia on the internet but it fizzled out."
The Daily Mail report said Scotland Yard officers were now investigating the celebrity - whom the paper did not name - and deciding whether to make an arrest.
But Mr Townshend said he had already been in contact with police.
"I've been in touch with Scotland Yard to tell them what I was doing.
Acting as 'vigilante'
"I have contacted them but no police officers have contacted me.
"I am waiting for the police to talk to me but they haven't been round."
He said he had highlighted his work on paedophilia on his website.
And he said that through his research, he felt it was his duty to "act as a vigilante to help support organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation, the NSPCC and Scotland Yard".
"I think I may have been sexually abused as a child and I was doing research into it.
"I've been writing my life story and the research is for a book," he said.
No comment
But he added: "I was worried this might happen and I think this could be the most damaging thing to my career."
Adult porn had been a life-long interest, said Mr Townshend, a founder member of The Who.
He said he would be speaking to his lawyers, and added: "I want to clear my name."
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
A spokesman said: "We can't confirm that we are investigating a British rock star. We don't discuss individuals."
The Daily Mail said the name, credit card details and e-mail address of the unnamed star were contained in a list of 7,000 people passed to British police by the US Postal Service after the pay-per-view service was smashed.
Police operation
British police are conducting their largest-ever investigation, code-named Operation Ore, into online paedophilia and child pornography.
So far, about 1,300 people, including a judge, magistrates, dentists, hospital consultants and a deputy headmaster, have been arrested.
Some 50 police officers have also been arrested and eight of them charged with offences, including two officers involved in the police investigation into the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
A spokesman for the National Criminal Intelligence Service said the files of anybody suspected of downloading pornographic material from the internet were being sent to relevant police forces around the country for further investigation.
No choice for homos, huh?
(Along the same lines, I was thinking about a book on "armed robbery" also..)
May means....'if necessary'
Isn't Townshend gay? Didn't he make a big deal of coming out of the closet about ten years ago?
My husband and I have an engineer friend from Soham, England. He and his family who live back there were never fully convinced that the two people (a young man and a woman, I believe) caught and charged with the poor girls' rape and murder are the real perpetrators. There are rumors in the town that the girls may have been abducted by a paedophile ring similiar to the one in Belgium a few years back. Their reasoning is that there was too quick an arrest without enough evidence against the pair. (The guy was apparently beaten, deprived of sleep, food, etc...) Of course, the whole area was calling for someone's blood because the crime was so horrific. Maybe the cops have the right people. Who knows? Still, the cops involved in the investigation who were caught downloading child porn will probably use the research excuse and get off. Maybe the cops are innocent.
In Belgium, there were similiar instances of police working on rape/torture/murder cases involving young girls letting the actual perps off easy or freed to committ more evil. Two judges were also involved. (Of course, here in the US, we have had cops and judges from liberal states like Massachusetts who have allowed dangerous perverts to walk the streets without any thought towards future victims...
That's the first time I have heard that name mentioned! I have read credible reports about the "Pink Ballets" that had as their "guests" high-ranking officials. Some of the officials have resigned or retired. A lot of people in Belgium are still furious as to how the scandal was treated by law enforcement and the politicians. The whole Dutroux affair made little sense unless one believes in secret paedophile rings and conspiracies. (I admit that I do...to some degree.)
Pictures of Lily help me sleep at niiiiiiight"
Lyric Pete Townshend 1964?
No, AFAIK he's not gay. I beleive it was rumored that he was bisexual or gay and he didn't deny it right away. He used the excuse that he didn't want to appear anti-gay by coming out and saying 'I'm not gay' - in his mind leaving the impression that there was something wrong with being gay. But I thought he was divorced, or at least separated. He had a relationship with a young American woman a few years ago while he was still married.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.