Fury at Townshend Let-Off
Brian in Atlanta
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003210937,00.html
Fury at Townshend let-off
By MIKE SULLIVAN and IAN HEPBURN, Sun Crime Team
ROCK star Pete Townshend sparked fury yesterday after Scotland Yard said he
will NOT face charges over his child porn shame.
The Who guitarist escaped with a formal caution after he admitted using his
credit card to look at vile images on the internet.
Townshend, 57 - arrested in January - will go on the sex offenders register
for five years. His mugshot, fingerprints and DNA will be logged.
But campaigners against child abuse were outraged at the let off after the
rocker went to a police station at noon and agreed to the caution following
a four-month probe.
A spokesman for Phoenix Survivors, a group which represents abuse victims,
stormed: "We are appalled at the leniency of the punishment. He gave money
to child molesters, which doubtless paid for the next child rape photo
session.
"It is pathetic and an insult to children who have suffered."
The NSPCC's Jennifer Bernard said: "People who pay to access these sites are
injecting cash into a criminal and manipulative industry that sexually
exploits and seriously damages children."
Townshend - arrested as part of the Operation Ore crackdown on internet
perverts - refused to answer questions last night at his £3million home in
Richmond, South West London.
But in a defiant statement he claimed the caution meant police accepted his
claim that he only looked at the porn for "research".
The rocker insisted: "As I made clear at the outset, I accessed the site
because of my concern at the shocking material readily available on the
internet to children as well as adults."
He added: "The police have unconditionally accepted that these were my
motives in looking at this site and that there was no other nefarious
purpose, and as a result they have decided not to charge me."
Townshend agreed to the caution at nearby Kingston upon Thames police
station. Operation Ore was launched after US investigators gave detectives
details of Brits who had paid to access child porn on the web.
But by the time Townshend was arrested he had got rid of the computer he
used when he paid to access the depraved images in 1999.
Townshend was offered yesterday's caution in return for admitting the
offence of inciting the distribution of the paedophile images by
payment.Police who seized nine computers when they raided his home and
offices stressed he had co-operated fully.
Senior sources in the Met denied the star was given preferential treatment
because of his fame. But Bob McLachlan - former head of Scotland Yard's
paedophile unit - slammed the caution as "totally inappropriate".
He said: "Why is this rock star being given such lenient treatment when he
has accepted a caution and therefore admits his guilt?
"Townshend claims he only did it for research - a common excuse used by
paedophiles."
--
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com