Swoop on Who star

Pete Townshend was facing arrest today after a dozen police officers swooped on his home.

The dramatic development came after the Who star admitted visiting a child pornography website.

Townshend, 57, was quizzed about his computer equipment and was expected to be formally arrested and taken to a police station for questioning.

The 12 plain-clothes detectives arrived at Townshend's home in Richmond at 3pm in a convoy of three cars and a van.

They were carrying equipment for conducting a search, including plastic bags to hold evidence. Only moments before, Townshend and his solicitor had driven up to the house. John Cohen, of Clinton's Solicitors, told reporters: "I have just come out to tell you there will be some police officers coming to meet Pete at 3pm by mutual agreement. We approached the police this morning and we said we need to meet."

The latest development came amid new claims that two former Labour ministers were among those under investigation for visiting the child pornography site.

Townshend admitted at the weekend that his was one of 7,000 names passed to British police by investigators from the US Postal Inspection Service.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman at the scene said: "There will be a thorough and detailed search of the premises. It will take as long as necessary."

She declined to say how many officers were involved, but said they were all from Scotland Yard, from the paedophile unit, major investigation team, and child protection units, and all attached to Operation Ore, the inquiry into child porn.

She said they were there by prior arrangement, and they had a search warrant. Computer forensics officers were also present.

Detective Superintendent Peter Spindler, of child protection command, who is overseeing the investigation into Townshend, was also present, she said.

Attempts to expose the former ministers are also bound to intensify now. It has been confirmed that their names and credit card details are on a list of subscribers to a child porn website. More than 1,300 people have already been arrested as part of the inquiry, including judges, teachers, doctors, care workers, soldiers and 50 police officers.

Townshend identified himself after reports that a rock star was among the names passed to police.

He denied he was a paedophile and emphasised his "anger and vengeance towards the mentally ill people" attracted to child porn. He has offered to hand over his computer to police for analysis.

He said he had received support from Bob Geldof, David Bowie and Bono, as well as Who colleague Roger Daltrey who said: "My gut instinct is he is not a paedophile and I know him better than most."

Townshend's brother Paul, 46, said the star can prove he viewed the sites as research for an antichild porn campaign and autobiography. He said his brother's PA contacted police three months ago to tell them Pete entered the site.

The book will include an account of Townshend's own childhood abuse. But anti-paedophile campaigners and internet watchdogs have said his explanations are no excuse for viewing the sites.