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Townshend Letter Defends Alleged Paedophiles

Who guitarist Pete Townshend posted an open letter on
his website in defence of alleged paedophiles -
claiming they were victims of a government "witch
hunt."

In the letter, which first appeared last October but
has since been deleted, Townshend claims innocent
people are being arrested in connection with child
abuse allegations - because of "over-zealous" police.

The "My Generation" rocker was arrested Monday after
admitting he logged onto child pornography sites, but
claims he did so for research purposes.

Townshend also writes in the letter of "a man who
briefly worked for me who was arrested in the UK for
downloading child pornography."

This is thought to be a reference to shamed glam
rocker Gary Glitter, who was jailed in 1999 for
possessing child pornography. He worked with The Who
on their rock opera 'Quadrophenia.'

Townshend continues, "I was cautious of openly
condemning him until he had been tried. When he went
to trial the buzzword that the newspapers kept
reprinting - the word he had allegedly used in his
regular internet searches - was 'Lolita.'"

Townshend then states he discovered the term was one
of the highest words used on web searches in Britain.

"It seemed to me that there was some hypocrisy going
on. Who were all these people typing 'Lolita' into
their browsers? They were surely not all paedophiles.
Perhaps they were simply curious of what they might
find."

He has been released on bail without any charge. 

Copyright 2003 World Entertainment News Network
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