Pete Townshend feared he'd lash out at lawyer over child porn drama

The Who star Pete Townshend accepted a police caution for accessing a child porn website as he feared he would turn violent if the case came to court.

The guitarist was given an official caution in 2003 after he admitted using his credit card to access a website during his research into the easy availability of illegal images on the Internet.

Cops eventually established the rocker had no child sex images on his 11 computers, and Townshend has now revealed he accepted a police caution as he was worried he would crack under the pressure of a court case.

He tells The Sun, "The police came and took away 11 computers. There was nothing on them but I had to wait five months... Then, suddenly, the Home Secretary and the (prosecuting authorities) said this is too high-profile, he's got to go to court. He may get off, he may not.

"I turned to my lawyers and said, 'If I get a (lawyer) in front of me who starts to get clever with me, I will leap out of the dock and beat him to s**t. I will get so triggered'. I took a caution."