The Ewok
11 Jan 2003, 13:32
Rock legend faces kid-porn probe
By STEVE KENNEDY
A BRITISH rock superstar faces a police probe into child porn, it emerged
last night.
The hell-raising music legend is said to have downloaded sick images from
the Net.
The rocker, identified by the FBI, is married with children and lives in
Britain. He has not been named.
His name was on a list of 7,000 subscribers to internet child porn.
His credit card details and email address turned up when US authorities
smashed a sick pay-per-view computer service.
The hellraising rocker, who is married with kids and lives in Britain, is
now at the centre of inquiries into whether he downloaded porn.
He is the third high-profile British music personality to be linked to child
sex offences.
Glam-rock star Gary Glitter was jailed for possessing vile computer pictures
of kids while twisted pop mogul Jonathan King went to prison for attacks on
teenage boys.
The Americans passed thousands of names on to British police after closing
down the Texas-based ring.
The musician, who cannot be identified, is a household name on both sides of
the Atlantic and has been involved in major films.
He is under investigation by detectives from Scotland Yard, who will decide
whether to arrest him.
If they do, he will become the highest profile person to be held under
Operation Ore - the largest ever investigation into online paedophilia in
the UK.
So far around 1,300 people have been arrested, including a judge,
magistrate, dentists, hospital consultants and a former deputy headmaster.
Fifty police officers have been arrested and eight charged.
They include Det Constable Brian Stevens, 41, of Cambridgeshire Police, one
of the family liaison officers in the Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman murder
inquiry in Soham.
DC Stevens has been charged with making indecent images of children and
indecently assaulting two girls.
The rock star's name and details were given to British police last month.
Their investigation into his background is expected to last for several
weeks.
They are especially anxious to make certain his credit card had not been
stolen or "cloned" by a criminal before being used to download porn.
They are also investigating the possibility that the card had been used by
someone else.
A police source said: "The high profile of this celebrity means we have to
be absolutely sure before we make an arrest."
The names of the 7,000 suspects passed to Operation Ore have been put into
several different categories.
One category is made up of anyone with direct access to children such as
teachers, doctors and social workers.
Another is for those who hold positions of authority, such as cops and
magistrates.
Operation Ore began last spring after the US postal service uncovered a
subscriber website for paedophiles which had 75,000 names worldwide.
Glam-rock star Gary Glitter, 59, was previously the highest-profile
paedophile snared for downloading kiddie porn.
He was jailed for four months after vile pictures were found stored on a
laptop he took into PC World for repair.
Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was cleared of having under-age sex with a
14-year-old girl at his trial but admitted building up the disgusting hoard
of porn.
He fought back tears after pleading guilty to having pictures of kids as
young as two.
Judge Neil Butterfield was slammed for sentencing him to just four months at
Bristol Crown Court when he could been jailed for three years on each of 54
charges.
After being released from prison Glitter fled abroad.
Only this week he was also arrested and deported by the Cambodian
authorities.
He was held on Christmas Day in the capital Phnom Penh for offences against
young boys and locked up for three days in a filthy cell.
He fled to Thailand after being given bail and then jetted off to Vietnam's
capital Ho Chi Minh City two days later.
The fallen star - already banned from Cuba - has been high on Cambodia's
list of foreign "undesirables" since The Sun tracked him down there.
By STEVE KENNEDY
A BRITISH rock superstar faces a police probe into child porn, it emerged
last night.
The hell-raising music legend is said to have downloaded sick images from
the Net.
The rocker, identified by the FBI, is married with children and lives in
Britain. He has not been named.
His name was on a list of 7,000 subscribers to internet child porn.
His credit card details and email address turned up when US authorities
smashed a sick pay-per-view computer service.
The hellraising rocker, who is married with kids and lives in Britain, is
now at the centre of inquiries into whether he downloaded porn.
He is the third high-profile British music personality to be linked to child
sex offences.
Glam-rock star Gary Glitter was jailed for possessing vile computer pictures
of kids while twisted pop mogul Jonathan King went to prison for attacks on
teenage boys.
The Americans passed thousands of names on to British police after closing
down the Texas-based ring.
The musician, who cannot be identified, is a household name on both sides of
the Atlantic and has been involved in major films.
He is under investigation by detectives from Scotland Yard, who will decide
whether to arrest him.
If they do, he will become the highest profile person to be held under
Operation Ore - the largest ever investigation into online paedophilia in
the UK.
So far around 1,300 people have been arrested, including a judge,
magistrate, dentists, hospital consultants and a former deputy headmaster.
Fifty police officers have been arrested and eight charged.
They include Det Constable Brian Stevens, 41, of Cambridgeshire Police, one
of the family liaison officers in the Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman murder
inquiry in Soham.
DC Stevens has been charged with making indecent images of children and
indecently assaulting two girls.
The rock star's name and details were given to British police last month.
Their investigation into his background is expected to last for several
weeks.
They are especially anxious to make certain his credit card had not been
stolen or "cloned" by a criminal before being used to download porn.
They are also investigating the possibility that the card had been used by
someone else.
A police source said: "The high profile of this celebrity means we have to
be absolutely sure before we make an arrest."
The names of the 7,000 suspects passed to Operation Ore have been put into
several different categories.
One category is made up of anyone with direct access to children such as
teachers, doctors and social workers.
Another is for those who hold positions of authority, such as cops and
magistrates.
Operation Ore began last spring after the US postal service uncovered a
subscriber website for paedophiles which had 75,000 names worldwide.
Glam-rock star Gary Glitter, 59, was previously the highest-profile
paedophile snared for downloading kiddie porn.
He was jailed for four months after vile pictures were found stored on a
laptop he took into PC World for repair.
Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was cleared of having under-age sex with a
14-year-old girl at his trial but admitted building up the disgusting hoard
of porn.
He fought back tears after pleading guilty to having pictures of kids as
young as two.
Judge Neil Butterfield was slammed for sentencing him to just four months at
Bristol Crown Court when he could been jailed for three years on each of 54
charges.
After being released from prison Glitter fled abroad.
Only this week he was also arrested and deported by the Cambodian
authorities.
He was held on Christmas Day in the capital Phnom Penh for offences against
young boys and locked up for three days in a filthy cell.
He fled to Thailand after being given bail and then jetted off to Vietnam's
capital Ho Chi Minh City two days later.
The fallen star - already banned from Cuba - has been high on Cambodia's
list of foreign "undesirables" since The Sun tracked him down there.