Cops Question Townshend About Child Porn

LONDON – Police questioned Pete Townshend, a guitarist from The Who, at his London home on Monday after he admitted visiting a Web site advertising child pornography.

Townshend, 57, said he was not a pedophile and had only used the site once as research for an autobiography dealing with his own suspected childhood sexual abuse.

He made the admission on Saturday after a newspaper reported that detectives were investigating an unidentified British rock star for downloading child pornography.

On Monday, a group of police officers arrived at Townshend's London home, one carrying a plastic crate carrying packaging to store potential evidence.

The rock star was at home, and his attorney, John Cohen, told reporters they were meeting with police.

"It's by mutual agreement. We approached the police this morning and said that we should meet," Cohen said.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman at the scene said the police, including forensic officers, had obtained a search warrant.

"There will be a thorough and detailed search of the premises. It will take as long as necessary," she said.

British police have arrested 1,300 suspects, including a judge, magistrates, dentists, hospital consultants and a deputy school headmaster, as part of Operation Ore, a crackdown on people who view child pornography on the Internet. Fifty police officers also have been arrested, and eight of them have been charged with offenses.

Operation Ore is the British arm of an FBI-led operation that traced 250,000 suspected pedophiles around the world through credit card details used to pay for downloading child pornography. The names of British suspects were passed on to police here by U.S. investigators.

Townshend's friend, model Jerry Hall, said Sunday that Townshend was an "avid supporter" of child welfare charities and had spoken at length about the dangers of child pornography on the Internet.