Police have confirmed they have pushed back the date that the Who's Pete Townshend has to return for further inquiries into the alleged child pornography offences: he was originally due to be questioned on Monday, but the meeting has been rescheduled for later in February. They wouldn’t say whether they or Townsend had requested the move.
Townshend continues to insist he has always been appalled by child pornography, stressing the steps he has taken in the past to oppose it, including posting a lengthy diatribe on his website, giving money to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's Full Stop campaign and reporting child porn web sites to the Internet Watch Foundation. Townsend hopes this last point will be crucial in his defense – although the IWF originally denied knowledge of being tipped off by Townsend they now admit that statement was incorrect.
Writing on his website Townsend says: "I, of course, know that I did communicate with them several times last year, and they have now supplied to us copies of my e-mails to them, one in August and the rest in November. My lawyers have written to the founder of the IWF, Mark Stephens, who was adamant that they had never heard from me, asking for an explanation."