Pete Townsend, leader of the band "The Who," has been released on bail. No charges have been filed against him. He was questioned at police headquarters after his arrest today "on suspicion of possession indecent images of children" and released. He is due to appear again at the police station later in January, if the police want to question him further.

Townsend has not shied away from the media.

Townshend, who has said he believes he was abused as a child, acknowledged Saturday he had downloaded child pornography from the Internet but insisted he had done it for research purposes.

"I am not a pedophile. I think pedophilia is appalling," the guitarist, who is married with three children, said in a statement.

Hours before he was arrested he told the Sun newspaper he had worked "tirelessly" to help the abused but had been foolish to wage a one-man battle against child pornography.

British police arrested more than 1,300 in "Operation Ore," Britain's largest child pornography investigation. How did it start?

The probe, which began 10 months ago, was launched after U.S. law enforcement agencies identified about 7,000 British suspects as users of child pornography Web sites.