Yes although it hasn't protected other celebs. Was Townsend caught accessing a child porn site and got away with it because he claimed it was for research?
Having looked into that it may be the case he wasn't accessing child porn at all, something to do with his credit card.
Yes his story does seem a little far-fetched but they couldn't find any indecent images or that he had actually accessed the site he had paid for by credit card. Not too difficult for to remove all traces but he has to be given the benefit of the doubt.
Unless you're an IT pro, it's pretty difficult to remove traces.
I think he thought about it, and changed his mind. He's got issues, as anybody familiar with his life story will know, but on this one I believe him.
Yes that's very likely.