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The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has revealed how he considered ending his life after his arrest in 2003 on child porn charges.
The Who legend was placed on the sex offenders register for five years after he subscribed to a child porn website, claiming he did so to investigate child pornography in order to help victims of abuse.. He has now revealed that he became so depressed after the incident that he wanted to commit suicide.
"If I'd had a gun, I would have shot myself, just to escape the lynching," he tells The Times newspaper, speaking for the first time about his arrest.
"I think I was exhausted," he continues. "The police gave me half an hour to make a decision about whether to go to court or not. My lawyers were as surprised as I was, because everyone thought I would be let off. And I thought if it went to court, they would f***ing rip me apart. They'll just rip me apart."
He also claims he cancelled his subscription to the website in question as immediately, but claims he did not speak of the incident before now because he felt there was little chance of public forgiveness.
"There was no sense of 'the truth will out'," he adds. "I've had the misfortune to read online comments where I'm judged as a paedophile because I've got a big nose."
When police investigated Townshend's computers in 2003, they found nothing incriminating.
