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Rushing to judgement



I have been a Who fan for many years and nothing will change that, but I
have been a bit amazed by the number of poeple on this list who seem to
think that they can judge Pete's guilt or innocence because they 'know' him
so well.  Of course he has given us all tremendous insights through his
music, but sexuality and desire are so personal and private that I doubt
whether even those closest to him can really be sure what is going on.  I
really hope that all is as he has said, but even that means he has committed
an offence according to English law.  Whether he prosecuted will depend at
least in part on how many images were downloaded and what examination of his
computer equipment reveals. I can't imagine that anyone will be prosecuted
for few enough images to be consistent with 'just curious' or 'researching'.
If hundreds or thousands of images are found (as with Gary Glitter) then it
will be a different story - and I imagine any of us would be hard pressed to
justify that! Now I don't know whether anyone on this list has inside
knowledge about whether the examination of the computer equipment is
complete, what Pete said in his police interviews, and what will be found.
In the absence of that then all I can say is that I sincerely hope all those
things bear out what Pete has said and that he is generally held not to be
into child porn, but I can't be sure until I know more.  The decision about
whether or not to charge him will be made by the Crown Prosecution Service on
the basis of whether they feel there is enough evidence to make a conviction
likely.

As to whether all that Pete has written or said on this matter gives us
conclusive evidence that he must be innocent - that is the emotional response
anyone who admires him as we all do would have.  Sadly I know from working
with sex offenders in the past that simply saying or writing that it is
appalling etc.doesn't prove anything!

As to a change in the law - well I was on a British TV programme the other
day where the discussion opened with exactly the point about whether it
should be illegal to look at such stuff, or whether the resources should be
concentrated on catching the people who abuse children to make the images.
There were a lot of abuse victims there and they were unanimous in their
view that it is never OK to look at this stuff.  Every viewer effectively
abuses the child again.  Once the images are available on the internet they
will always be there and the child lives with the constant risk of being
identified.  The child also has to cope with knowing that they have no
control over where their images are and they could still be circulating
years later.  It is not OK to look and should remain illegal, but perhaps
better warnings should be given to deter the foolhardy and curious.
Una